Last Wednesday night was probably one of the highlights of my DR experience so far… altho it had been less than a week of full ministry, there was a slight expectation on my part )altho at training camp we were warned to lay down any expectations!) that I would feel a stirring in my heart earlier than I actually have.. Despite a long and slightly frustrating morning, I’m so glad our team decided to join Pastor Manuel in attending a worship service in the town of Zanjas, which is quite a distance beyond Mogollon. After a night of beautiful worship and a message of truth from Benny, who is so at home and just lights up in front of a congregation, I was feeling good. It’s awesome to walk into a new and unfamiliar church, not speak the language, but still be able to worship, clap, sing and pray together.
But it was on the truck ride home, sitting in the back with Benny and our Dominican friends, Felix, Hector (translator working with one of the other teams, but who helped out at the service that night), and Elvis, listening to Jeremy Camp (in English, an important fact to note) and just enjoying the grandeur of stars across the sky, that I felt like this is what it’s all about. I never would have thought I’d find myself in the Dominican, squished in the back of a pickup truck that has probably seen better days and definitely better roads, finally enjoying a strong breeze and cool night air, singing along with fellow brothers to Jaci Velasquez’s Imagine Me Without You. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the song.. it got me all nostalgic since it was one of the first contemporary Christian songs I was introduced to and used to play on repeat with Viv. Suddenly, I just found it so amusing and amazing… that this is how God brings us all together, reaching across language, borders, culture. You can go anywhere in the world and find someone with whom you may not share too much in common, who has no business knowing you, who doesn’t know your past or your future, but knows your God because He is also their God. I didn’t want it to end… I wanted to ride on, through every ditch, pothole and flooded road, around fallen bridges, and under trees with branches that fan out like giant umbrellas.. surrounded by God’s beauty and His people, feeling completely safe.
