Right outside Ground Zero, where most of the earthquake destruction in Portoviejo, Ecuador occurred, there is a 5 story building. “We need people not afraid of going into an unstable building.” With a sticker slapped onto the side of the building saying “Demolition” and caution tape enclosing the area, ten from our group of fifteen cross into a scene we have never seen before.
No, it honestly was not the safest place to be, and had we been in the States there is no way we would have been allowed inside. We were not sure what we were doing there other than moving things out. We were accompanied by a few locals, grabbing mainly furniture pieces along with files and paperwork. Box after box was being passed down out assembly line, some heavier items here and there. We made our way up floor by floor. I looked around and felt sadness settle in my heart. Clearly someone worked AND lived here, and it was destroyed. Books and shelving pieces are sprawled out everywhere. There is shampoo and soap still hanging in the shower. Flip flops in a bedroom. Those are someone’s flip flops, who knows, maybe their favorite pair.
I had the thought to grab some more personal looking items, but I never did. Now I wish I had acted on the thought. Had I known we were going to be loading the stuff to deliver personally to the woman it belonged to, I would have grabbed differently. Had I known she was going to cry upon receiving her things, I would have grabbed more. Had I realized she was going to show me artwork her friend made for her, clearly happy to have it back in her possession, I would have looked for those simple treasures hidden in her apartment.
As I stood next to her, her eyes perusing what little she had left of her home and office, I noticed a glimmer in her eyes. She had more than she realized she had. She told me when the earthquake happened she had gone upstairs to quickly grab an envelope and leave. Right after she left the building, bricks collapsed in the entrance. God spared her life, and she was well aware of the goodness of the Lord. She still has her life, she still has her husband and family and she still has the Lord. And He will get her through.
It is so humbling for me to even think about this. If I lost my home and everything inside became rubble, would I say “Jesus, you are all I need. You are enough.” I want to say yes obviously, but I do not know for sure if I would. Shoot. If I cannot say with 110% confidence that this would be my response, something is wrong. The Lord is revealing to me my value on THINGS, and it is OH SO HUMBLING!
What about you?
If you lost your home to a natural disaster would you cry over your stuff or would you cry over the fact that you have overwhelming peace and Jesus will carry you through?
The truth is, one day all of our homes will turn into rubble. Maybe not literally in our lifetime, but every material thing we own and value will eventually turn to dust, and we will be in heaven without anything we inherited here on earth. Our earthly riches turn to rubble and we exchange for the greatest treasure of all.
Are you living like material possession is more important, or the way you use this short period of time on this earth? Trust me; I am working through that one too.
