For two days this week we went to the dump to feed people and to share Christ with those who live and work there. I was helping to get food together for the first part of the time that we were there the first day, so I didn’t get to have a lot of interaction with the people at the dump. However, I was praying for them as I watched the other people from the squad be the hands and feet of Jesus, loving the people around them. After the people were fed, I got off the bus and prayed, asking whom the Lord wanted me to talk to or love. There was a sweet baby there that I instantly fell in love with and held him as I prayed and chatted with the men around him. I prayed that generational patterns would be broken off of this sweet boy and the rest of the people there, and that they would not have to live this life.
My heart literally broke as I watched these people scrounging for food to eat or scraps to sell. I was broken because I know that this is not the life that Christ intended for them. There is so much more, but because of what they’ve grown up around, this is familiar and comfortable for them. They are living in mediocrity when they could be living in abundance. I’m not talking about having “things,” I am talking about walking out an abundant life in Christ. Many of the people that we spoke with have been at the dumps anywhere between 5-18 years. That baby that I held was most likely born there. One of the main issues is that this is what people are familiar with. They come from 4 generations of family that have lived this same life style. Their families are literally passing on death and mediocrity to them. It’s not that they are intentionally doing it, but it’s what they’ve known. No one has broken the pattern, and so it goes on. I can’t help but think that it’s similar in each of our lives. At times, parents teach their kids what they’ve known for their whole lives. They teach them what the generations before them have done, but in reality they are destining their kids to the dumps. There is always more, there is always something new to walk into, but we remain in the mediocre because it’s what is known and it’s a “comfortable” place to be. We fear to walk into the unknown, the things that seem crazy, and we miss out on the abundance that the Lord is waiting with on the other side.
I was praying about how they are not walking in the fullness of Christ, and then the Lord whispered, “Neither are you. I have more for you and you don’t walk into it either.” I have not hit the prime of what Christ has for me (I don’t even know if I believe we ever can, He always has more). I’ve walked in a lot of joy and blessings and abundance, but still have a long ways to go. I fear to walk into the unknown, though I know there are more and greater things on the other side. The Lord is tearing things up and rebuilding inside me to prepare me for more to come. I have the hunger for it, and I pray that I have the faith to trust Him and continue to walk run into what He has for me.
Another thing about the dump was that I wish we could have done more. We got there, fed some people, talked to them about the Lord and then left. I wish we could have had more time to be in relationship with them, and to figure out how to get them out of that situation and into better jobs and homes. The truth of the matter is that we cannot do it all for everyone we meet. There comes a point where you have to ask yourself if Christ is enough. You can give them those material things, but without Christ, without love, they are actually bankrupt. What do they have at the end of their lives without Christ? What have they truly gained? We can give them things, but things won’t love them through their mess, things can’t break addictions, things can’t keep their families together, etc. Though we can’t do it all for everyone we meet, we can very well share Christ with the people He puts in our path. Houses may fall, people may flee, money may run out, and jobs may no longer be available, but Christ is eternal. Christ is enough.
