The truth about devastation is that no one can truly be prepared for the moment when they witness, for the first time with their own eyes, true devastation.
That sentence sums up our first week in Nepal. The city of Kathmandu has so much beauty: in the colors, the scents, the food, the sounds, the people. But around seemingly every corner is a house that stood two weeks ago that is now a pile of just rubble. I find myself still surprised even a week later to pass what was once a house that is now just bricks. I still have to swallow the lump in my throat and continue to do what God asked me to do here: bring Him glory. I still tear up when Nepalis ask for us to pray for them, for their families who don’t know the Lord, for healing from pain, and for their loved ones and jobs because they crumbled in the quake.
Yesterday, my team leader asked me if I could preach in church this morning. I have a sermon that the Lord gave me a few weeks ago that was in the back of my journal, making my gut reaction, sure, Crystal. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to stand in front of people who experienced an earthquake that changed their lives forever and tell them that God was still God and God is still good. They were words that I have clung to when everything else around me seemed to go crazy. They were the truth that I have convinced myself over and over again in the past 20 days, and some days, over and over again. I felt like I was standing on a stage convincing people of the truth that I had to convince myself of just hours before.
To be able to proclaim the Word of God to people who have walked through incredible disaster in the two weeks prior to getting up on a stage, some of them a bit scared because they were in church when the quake struck here in Kathmandu. I didn’t really plan on preaching in Kathmandu (secret is, I hope to go my whole race without getting on a stage, but uh, no such luck.) But God had a different plan. I was encouraged beyond my wildest dreams; with about 30 people in the room, probably 10 of them specifically approached me to say thank you for the Word. I think they encouraged me more than I could have ever encouraged them, despite the fact that I hadn’t lived through the quake that struck just 14 days ago.
The truth of the matter is, that being here in Nepal, helping people is great. But not taking this time to proclaim the Word of God to people who have the possibility of never hearing the truth of the gospel is a greater tragedy than the 7.9 earthquake (and subsequently lower aftershocks that are still going on). They know enough to be condemned to hell, but nothing of the saving truth of the gospel of Jesus. Jesus, help us preach the gospel well to the Nepali people.
Friends, pray for the gospel to go forth in this country. Tomorrow, we head to the village, the village who’s name I will intentionally leave out, but is the most devastated part of Nepal. Pray for them, pray for us. We are incredibly humbled at the opportunity that God would send us to serve there over the course of the next week. According to our contacts, there is nothing standing in this village any more. There are still bodies in the rubble, people starving, and water and food hard to come by. I never dreamed I would be handed such an opportunity to minister to people who are hurt so deeply, but ache for the truth of a Creator, a Savior, the One who rescues to be shared with people who are living in this village. God, send us to a place where you get the glory, and that your name will go forth for the rest of time.
Until He Comes,
Kristy
