“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” – Acts 2:1-2
“For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.” – Acts 2:15
When I read about the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, I try to get a mental picture of what it looked like in the eyes of the crowd who perceived them to be drunk. My mental picture does not even compare to the visual I observed last night. This is what happened:
First some background: The church we have been attending on Sundays in La Carpio is called Peace and Love. The women of this church went on a prayer retreat for a few days. We had service yesterday at 4pm, and the women were to arrive back from their retreat about 5:30pm. The husbands and children of these women planned an awesome service, and made crafts for them. While the women were gone they also prepared some things to do in the service when they arrived.
Thirty-one women stepped off a bus and lined up down the church aisle. Four of them lead with flags and they all worshipped God through dance. I was actually holding a baby that was born 28 days ago at this time. That is important because I was sitting next to a twenty-two year old girl and as the women were coming down the aisle she told me that her mother was the main flag twirler. At this moment tears started flowing. I then realized how AWESOME God is, and that there really is HOPE for all the children and young girls in La Carpio.
I was in the midst of three generations in that one moment. The mother, with the flag, grew up in such a lost community, but made it through with Jesus as her rock. She was able to raise a daughter, Jenny–the girl next to me, that loves Christ with her whole heart. This daughter is part of the worship team, and a Sunday school teacher for the young girls of the church. And finally, I was holding a baby who WILL get a chance to live for Christ despite the community she lives in.
retreat. They then put on a concluding song to sing to, and at this moment Heaven opened up, and the
spirit of God rained down on these women. I got to see a glimpse of what happened on the Day of
Pentecost. I have NEVER seen so many women truly experiencing God. They were just worshiping and
jumping around, when all of a sudden about five women got hit with the spirit at the same time. Other
women had to help them stay up, because they looked completely wasted and couldn’t walk straight or
anything. IT WAS AWESOME. The age range of these women was from twenties to sixties so it was so
inspiring to see these women seek God no matter what it looked like.
So many times I look at the despair in the communities we go to, but I saw tonight that when we leave La Carpio there are people here still changing their world. There is HOPE. If I could stand in the midst of three generations of Christians, how many more people will come to know Christ through them! God is the God of La Carpio, and God will move in that community!
