“I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.”
–
The Apostle Paul
Philippians 4:12
I love it! Maybe it’s just because I’ve only been traveling the world for a month. But I love rolling up into a squatter village in the slums of a town like Manila, Philippians. 12 million people call this place home – THREE MILLION of ‘em call the slums home. For me, THIS is what I signed up for. I wanna see the reality of this world. I don’t wanna be blind anymore. I wanna understand the pain and suffering God’s children are going thru. I wanna look in the eyes of a four year boy and see Jesus, because, after all THIS is where God lives right? – with the poorest of the poor, the forgotten, the cast-offs. (Matthew 9:12) I wanna be a light in this dark place. I wanna serve! I wanna encourage these people! I wanna pray with their families!
Yeah I know I’m getting a little fired up and carried away, heck you’re probably even asking yourself what can one random dude from Arkansas do, right. If not, you should be, because I am. But then I remember I’ve got authority in Jesus Christ – the Kingdom of God lives in me – and you! (Luke 10:19, Ephesians 6:10) And it’s our job to take His Kingdom to the nations, to our friends, to our family, to our neighbors! (Matthew 28:19, 20) HOWEVER, I can’t say this was my mindset as we pulled in, but after a nice bucket shower you could say I’m a little on fire for the Lord right now. Anyway, I think when we drove up I was just more shocked at where we were staying. Here, in this place – really?
At the time that question was bouncing around in my head Our Philippine contact throws the van in park, looks back at us and says, “You got flashlights right? We gotta cross a bridge – come on, you’ll see.” As we get out we’re surrounded by shanties, little homes and stores made of stick and some metal roofing. The place stinks of a smell I can’t quite place; but, pleasant is NOT a word I’d use to describe it. We gear up and head thru total hopelessness. You can see it on their faces. Hot, sweaty people just sitting outside chillin’, looking at us like we’re from the circus. I’m used to that by now. Not many Americans stroll thru this part of Manila. The men are gathered around, shirtless, usually smoking and talking amongst themselves. We continue the 100 meter walk winding thru this “town” by the Manila Bay, trying to keep from stepping in the deep mud, course you gotta dodge the dog with her eight puppies while trying not to fall thru the holes in the bridge. This whole time we can barely see a thing, except were our next step is supposed to go, and that’s thanks to our tiny head lamps. But those head lamps barely scrap the surface of what’s really out in the darkness or underneath the bridge. The “homes” are packed together so stinkin’ tight. Doors and windows don’t really exist, so you can easily see right inside. At this point, I’m starting to think I’ll be lucky to get a shower at all tonight – funny how I prioritize things. Anyway, we finally get to the school SLASH church where we’re staying. We gather, shoot the breeze for a bit and then have a prayer. As our contact is leaving he says watch for the rats, but he said it with a smile on his face as he held up his hands to demonstrate the size of these lovely creatures. Yeah – he wasn’t kidding! We got rats, mice, roaches, no running water and a six foot by three foot hole in the roof, BUT at least my bed SLASH table is three feet off the ground, so I’m safe from all those critters. PLUS we got a bucket shower and a heck of a lot of ministry opportunities around here. Seeing how there’s 1400 hundred families that live in this camp and only 20 people show up for church each Sunday – I’d say we got lots of folks to be Jesus to. Praise God! He’s teaching me “the secret of living in every situation.”
Here’s some photos I took when I got up this morning, well except this first one I took it last night before going to bed. Anyway, make sure you go to the “browse my photos” link. We ran across a cockfight this morning. Crazy stuff!
