Philipians 2:13
This weekend I have been in Granada, Nicaragua. We came here as a retreat, to just get away from the work everyday and have no schedule or plans. The Lord had another plan for me. From the moment we arrived my heart was being broken for the people of this city. I had many encounters this weekend where I was just at a loss for words, loss of how to react, and a feeling of being inadaquate.
Me and a two of the guys were walking down a very crowded street with local vendors everywhere. We happened to stop at one point and they both stopped and were looking at a place that sold cell phone coverage. So I stopped and just looked at one of the other vendors nearby right there on the street. He asked me if I wanted somthing and I said I was just looking, he spoke English well. He then started asking me some questions about what I was doing here and we soon started talking about Jesus and the World Race and stuff like that. By this time the other two guys who were with me were standing with me now. He was very interested in what we were doing and asking all sorts of questions. He thought that it was odd that we were missonaries in a country where we could barerly speak the language. I tried to tell him that we helped other already established minisrties and missionaries in the countries that we visit, but he seemed to still not understand. He was a Catholic and really appreciated what we were doing but at the same time I felt a little discouraged. He made some really good points and I just said that though we may not speak the language perfectly that we believed and know that God was using, and is working through our time in each country. I started to think to myself…man he was right. I should have spent more time preparing before I left, studying the language and I don't even have a spanish bible!! How can I share Gods word with people, if I don't even have a spanish bible. This was all really convicting to me. We asked him if we could pray for him and he said yes but pray when you go home, I think this might be a Catholic teaching or somthing I don't know, but he also agreed to pray for us when he went home. We exchanged emails and information and said our goodbyes.
Not too long after this we were walking down the main central park area of the city and Jason noticed two men who were just hanging on the streets. He immediately asked a few questions and then started praying for the younger man. This man told us his name was Lazarus, and that the other man with him was his father. He didn't speak any English so we were using the little spanish we knew to understand him. Lazarus heart was broken for his father because he was an alcholic and hadn't eaten in days. My heart was so broken for this son and his dad. Soon we found out they were both homeless and Lazarus love for his dad was just so evident yet he was helpless to do anything for his father. My heart just continued to greif and ask myself wha can I do? The son said he was 33 and his father 68. We continued to pray for them as the son just weld up with tears for his father and both of their situations. We went and bought them both a burger and bottle of water. We sat with them a little longer trying to share scripture with them, it was so hard though. I had so much I wanted to share with them but could'nt because of the language barrier. All three of us walked away just feeling the immense weight of these two men. I tried to find a spanish bible in the area to bring to them but couldn't find one. I told them I would be back to bring them a bible, but the next day they were not there.
You surely can't feel my frusteration exactly but I hope I painted a picture for you, I had one other experience last night that also added to my broken feeling for this city and others just like it.
Jason and I were sitting at an outside resturant on the main street where all the locals and tourists come to eat, drink, and just experience the night life. As I was sitting I was looking around and noticed an older man sitting on the street with a table selling cigars. He had a young women come up to him and he was talking with her and began touching her inapropriately. It was obvious what was happening and that this guy was a pimp. She sat down next to him and was just sitting there quietly. I kept glancing back at her and him and just feeling very angry and sad for this girl. Praying under my breath I felt the weight of an already tremendous day just before this. As I kept glancing back at them I noticed them both noticing me everytime I looked. Several minutes later one of the many young boys that wander the streets at night came up to me. He was making a little flower out of some kind of leaf for us when the man behind us called him over. The little boy ran over to him and then he came back to our table and what I made out in spanish was that, that man asked the little boy to ask me if I wanted that girl. My heart sank and then I was filled with anger. I really wanted to go over to that table and flip it over just like Jesus went and flipped over the tables of the people in front of the temple. I didn't know what to say or think and my heart just broke even more.
This was the first time anything like this happened to me and it really made me angry. How could I experience somthing like this and not be moved? How could anyone pass these things by and go unchanged? My heart is so moved for people like these and these stories, and the reason I share is so that you also would be changed and moved with compassion next time you see somthing such as this. Please pray for these girls, pimps, and little children, and homless people who are so close to the heart of God, and pray that he places the burning compassion within His children to do somthing…
I could say so much more but I think you get it..perhaps I will write again some of the things I have observed here in a couple of weeks when we return for debrief.
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God
