As I sit here thinking & typing, a 70-something retired physician sits nearby, playing the piano. All the classics: How Great Thou Art, Be Thou My Vision, Rock of Ages, etc. Downstairs there’s a recreation room, complete with a ping-pong table, flat screen TV, and expansive movie collection. Wafting from the kitchen is the smell of freshly baked brownies and pumpkin bread. Needless to say, there are a lot of American norms happening in this sweet Ecuadorian/American home.
But this isn’t a normal month. Being a new continent and with a new team isn’t what makes this month different- both of those things have become normal. It’s the new theme that makes month 8 special.
We, Christians and nonbelievers alike, often ask for more. More of the Lord’s presence, in one variation or another, is a common request. More patience, loads of compassion, enough money to get by, extra humility, and buckets of wisdom are all things we know to ask for.
I spent 7 months asking for more freedom. But I’m already free- I just didn’t know it. I was still acting in the realm of “I must be a Jesus.Robot.”
He revealed to me that instead of receiving more, I’ll get to walk more fully in the freedom that I’ve had for many months.
I’ve never been convinced that I had to come on the Race to experience his glory. It’s true: this is an elective credit, unrequired for graduation. No brownie points for doing the Race. He doesn’t love me more in Africa than in California. He’s the same Holy Spirit in the U.S.A. as in Ecuador.
It’s just that I’ve learned a couple things a little faster than I would have at home- like that I have enough. Enough freedom, enough compassion, enough salvation. I’m already equipped and called. I am enough. The cross is enough.
Enough already, back to the freshly baked brownies and packing party. Los Picantes is headed to PERU for month 9. yippee!
