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As we were standing on one side of the four way stop watching the elders carrying a massive wreath of flowers, you could feel how much this lady, a mother of five children, was loved by her community. There was a white casket with golden flare trim being carried by six strong men to the church in the town’s square. I don’t know any Spanish, but I do know their singing voices were carried to the heavens. Their voices united was beautiful. I felt very honored to be part of this sacred traditional ceremony.
I was looking toward the ground because I was afraid if I looked up my eyes would be filled with tears — staring at the future I feared. My mother had a few strokes last year and I’m afraid that while I’m on the World Race, that not only am I not with her during an important time in her life, but she’ll have another stroke. As I was staring at the ground, swallowing my tears, I noticed a pinkish/whitish rose pedal that once was on the wreath now being trampled — a symbol of the community admiration of the innocence that has been taken away. There were too many to pick up. I thought a rose shouldn’t be trampled. “Like a rose trampled on the ground, you took the fall and thought of me above all,” a song from my early Christian life came to mind. A reminder that Jesus, a man of no sin, a man regarded as worthy of respect, innocence that has been taken, a rose trampled on the ground, made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. “A man died on a wooden cross, nails through His hands and feet, blood dripped on the ground, in order to release us. Love held Him on the cross and cries out to us now. His truth changes conformity to courage, fear to hope, apathy to love, death to life.”(A card I saw in Refuge Cafe in Antigua.)
This reminded me why I’m on the Race, to receive the gift of abundant life from Christ and to grow closer to Him. I shared my fear about leaving my family for a path that I strongly felt God called me to. A squad member shared Luke 9:61-62. ““I will follow you Lord, but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.” Jesus replied,” No one who puts a hand to plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”” (To do their work well, a ploughman must look ahead to make certain the line of furrow is flawless. To look back while working is to damage the work entirely.) I can’t have regrets about the decision that I made. I need to concentrate on the work I’m doing here and now. I must not look back while God is doing this work in me. In God I trust, I lift my family to Him. My mother is in good hands back home. It’s time to stop looking back and start becoming fit for service in the Kingdom of God.
