I love water. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to swim in pretty much any lake/river/ocean/pool I see. I can’t just wade in it either. I always have to leap in, splash around, explore under the water.
It’s never enough just to float on the surface.
When I came to Jacó, I wasn’t sure what to expect from our ministry. There had been a lot of hype about serving in a surfing community – of course, we were all expecting it to be a fun month. One of our first days here we had a quiet time of prayer and reflection to prepare for our ministry here. I asked the Lord what He wanted from me in Jacó, and how I could make this more than just a fun month at the beach.
Go deeper. Don’t dwell on the surface of things.
That’s the thought I received immediately. A few days later, I was told that one of my gifts was going deeper and seeing things others don’t always see. Not long after that, I read a letter a friend had written the week before encouraging me to seek my relationship with God on a deeper level.
God’s calling me into deep waters in Jacó, and I don’t just mean the ocean.
Jacó is beautiful. It’s sunny and warm and playful. People come here from all over the world seeking rest, adventure, or inspiration. The city is vibrant, the community is warm and welcoming, the lifestyle is fun and laid-back. There are so many bright and joyful things to love about this little beach town.
Don’t be content with surface level. Go deeper, remember?
Last week we did a prayer walk around the city on a busy Saturday night, when some of Jacó’s shadier aspects become more visible. The city is still beautiful late at night, but it’s a little more desperate, too. A fun beach town by day, Jacó is a prime destination for sex trafficking at night and it caters heavily to a party crowd.
It’s a little harder to ignore what’s under the surface when you see the men getting drunk on the corner.
When the people passing you on the sidewalk offer you weed.
When there are transvestites waiting on street corners, and legal prostitution drawing customers from around the world.
When you’re surrounded by women who equate showing more of their bodies with receiving more love.
When you know that local children are being sold into sexual exploitation by their parents.
I know that these things happen all over the world. That doesn’t change my reaction to them. Being in Jacó has made me think a lot about the balance between light and dark here. We’re going to find a lot of both wherever we go – that’s just part of life – but I don’t want to shy away from the hard stuff.
Every darkness has some light in it.
All of this got me thinking about one of my favorite verses: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). The rough undercurrents in Jacó don’t discourage me, because I know there’s more than darkness present.
God isn’t absent in the darkness.
We can’t be separated from His love.
I love seeing how the youth here in Jacó are being empowered not to settle for the surface things. It’s super encouraging to see this group of young people learning how to invest deeper into their community. So yes, Jacó has some bad things going on, but it also has a lot of wonderful, determined people working to make them better. I’m really glad we went out that night to see the city change, once the sun had set and the tourists had moved from the beaches to the bars. It made me think about some things.
Sometimes, the darkest places are where we see God’s greatest victories.
Don’t dwell on darkness – it doesn’t deserve the credit.
God can redeem any place, any situation, any person.
“And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them” (Isaiah 42:16).
The beaches in Jacó are beautiful, and surfing on the waves is fun, but what’s excited me the most about this month is what I’ve found beneath the surface. Go deep. It’s worth it.
