“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
The city on a hill.
The city that shines the light of God.
Medellín is a city surrounded by mountains but this afternoon, Kirsten and I had the opportunity to travel up into the mountains to the outskirts of the city with Mama Nena. We didn’t know much before we left but Mama Nena had said she wanted me and Kirsten specifically to go with her today for whatever reason. She told us we would briefly share our testimonies and then told me I could translate for Kirsten (which is a joke because I do NOT speak fluent Spanish). We quickly grabbed our journals and wrote out a few sentences with some help from our good friend Google Translate. We grabbed some bread from the bakery and a pitcher of juice to take with us and piled into a taxi to begin what became quite a bumpy ride up into the mountains. We left the taxi at the bottom of a set of stairs that led to a dirt path and we kept walking and winding our way around the various houses and dogs (y’all… SO. MANY. DOGS.). Eventually, after gaining several followers along the way, we made it to our destination. A little house on a hill.
In this house, God was present. Among the women, including a baby, young girls, mothers, and women who have experienced much more life than either of us, the Holy Spirit was present. Kirsten and I sat in a room full of women who spoke a different language and listened to the testimony of Mama Nena, one of the ladies that is in charge of the women’s program at Ciudad Refugio. I “translated” meaning whenever I heard a word in Spanish that I knew, I whispered it to Kirsten. But for the most part, we had nothing but hand gestures, emotion (and there was a lot of it- Mama Nena doesn’t mess around) and the Holy Spirit to tell us what was happening. It was beautiful. There is something about being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and then finding something familiar in everything that is foreign that gives me great joy. I cling to it and in that house on the hill (it really was more of a mountain but roll with it), I clung to the Holy Spirit, the very presence of Jesus among us. Kirsten and I shared our testimonies as best we could in Spanish and we shared bread and juice (mango juice if you must know) with the women. As we left that house and started the trek back down the mountain, we took a detour to pray for sweet Olga, an elderly woman in the community that was ill. Mama Nena said a beautiful prayer over her in Spanish, of course, but no translation was needed. She thanked God for the creating Olga as his precious daughter and once again, the Holy Spirit was as present as ever. We had just left the house on the hill and were already bringing light to dark places.
Jesus tells us that wherever 2 or more are gathered, He is present with them. Jesus was present at Olga’s bedside. That house on the hill was full of Jesus. After leaving Olga, I couldn’t get that idea out of my head. I just kept thinking- the house on the hill, the house on the hill. That house and those women are going to do incredible things for the Lord. That house on the hill is going to be a light to the community, a light to the expansive city below. That humble house on the hill is raising up children to follow Jesus and bring light into darkness. The Lord is working in that house on the hill and the light will shine so brightly that it cannot be extinguished.
