She limped across the street, focused on making it to the other side. Her feet ker-thumped one tiny step after another…until she saw the car coming towards her. Then she froze, her feet fixed to the ground not in terror, but in resignation. Even when the car saw her and honked, she remained glued to the tar in a pathetic way, suggesting she half-wished the car would run her over and end her misery.
Without thinking, I ran a few feet up to the scene, my grocery bags swinging from side to side as I dropped them and kneeled to the ground. I started calling to her, and a tiny tail wag involuntarily weaseled its way up her body. Then rethinking it and returning to fear, the tail tucked again back under her legs.
I kept calling to her, and the puppy limped in a final expenditure of energy until she got to me. She fell at my feet and let me pet her, finally safe from the car which drove off on its way to better occupations. For the driver of that car, it was just another day, just another stray in a world where homeless dogs run rampant in the streets.
But for me it wasn’t just another day. Even though I have a huge heart for animals, I had made it eight months on the Race without adopting or taking in any strays, a pretty marvelous feat if you know me. But she was different. From the time I called that precious puppy over to me, I knew I couldn’t just let her go.
Her protruding ribs inflated and deflated as she sniffed my bags in hunger, and I crouched, torn as to what I should do. Leaving her on the streets seemed like the most logical option, but compassion compelled me. Before I knew it, she had somehow ended up in my arms, huddled close to me, trying to soak up the love she knew would probably never come again.
Then I carried her home with me. We named her Alli, short for Alegría, meaning joy. I didn’t know what to do with her, except that I wanted to at least nurse her back to health and let her leg heal before she returned to the streets. But as I sat with her a few hours, moving my Kindle outside so I could play with her while I read, I imagined playing with her at home in the US, saving her, adopting her, and giving her a new life.
After researching the expense behind shipping a dog home, vaccinations, and calling my parents to see if they would take care of her for the two months left in my Race, I decided that adopting her myself probably wasn’t the most practical decision.
So I decided to find a home for her. I asked around and found a website where we could post her picture and get her adopted locally in Chile. I was given some flea medication and prepared to get her scrubbed up and ready for her new home.
And then she left.
After a night where some big dogs came and put her in her place, she left our little yard and hasn’t come back yet. And yes, I teared up a little. I haven’t full-on cried yet, but I just couldn’t understand why after giving her some chicken, love, and hopefully a new life, she could run away in fear.
Then I thought, isn’t this just how we treat God?
We pathetically limp over to him, resigned, barely escaping a car, scratching our fleas as we snuggle up next to His warmth. He picks us up, carries us home, and offers us the world.
Then we leave.
We get a little scared, some big bully dogs come around, and we think maybe the church isn’t what we thought. Maybe God isn’t who we thought. I mean after all, even though he fed us and saved us we still aren’t allowed to sleep in the house. How rude. And we trot out that front gate, tail tucked in fear but head sniffing the air as we flippantly hope there is a better life for us out there in the wild.
God weeps for us, knowing that the life He had for us was so much better than the life we chose.
But the story isn’t over yet. Alli could still come back, and so can you. Just follow the scent home. You haven’t left it so far behind that you don’t know the way back. And if you have, God will come looking for you again to show you. In fact, He’s probably sitting right behind you, waiting for you to turn around and realize that He’s there.
So come home. God has a better life than you can imagine waiting for you. Whether you left the Christian life completely or simply walked away from a challenge or test you know God wanted you to walk out, it’s never to late to try again. His mercies are new each morning, and His promises endure generations.
What do you have to lose? A trash bag full of goodies? Oh, bummer. Why don’t you come try the steak God’s holding out to you? I promise, even though you’ve never tasted it, it is better than anything you can ask for or imagine.
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UPDATES & PRAYER REQUESTS
Since my last blog, we have done two major ministries. First, we were in Ninhue for ten days, with our main ministry being a VBS for the children. Please pray kids continue to return to church, that they bring friends, and that their attendance leads to their families coming to church, as well.
We did many prayer nights and fought for the town of Ninhue in the spiritual world, not just the physical. In addition, the people in Ninhue constantly blessed us with free bread, a free visit to the ropes course, letting us use their washing machines, etc. Please pray God continues to move mightily in the spiritual climate of Ninhue, softening people’s hearts and bringing a pastor here to serve the church on a continual basis.
After Ninhue, we went to La Pintana, one of the most dangerous parts of Chile, just outside of Santiago. Our parents met us there, and we joined forces for a week to help the Granja Orphanage and Casa Esperanza (a house that helps the girls transition to jobs after finishing school). My parents didn’t come, but so many others decided to adopt me that I felt absolutely spoiled. Please pray God continues to bless the girls of the orphanage, break the bondage of their abuse, and show them true freedom.
While there, we sanded and varnished five houses for the girls in the orphanage, painted a mural on a wall, I got to share my testimony at a school, and we were involved in various church services and school assemblies. It was a wonderfully busy week, and while I felt exhausted physically, I was refreshed spiritually. Join me in praising God for all that He did in our parents’ lives in one week, and please pray God continues to use this catalyst to mold their lives for His glory.
We finished off the week by doing a round of affirmation feedback for the parents, and then they were on their way to various parts of South America or back to the United States. Even with them being here only a week, I felt a substantial amount of culture shock with the time-centeredness and overall attitudes of the parents. There was nothing necessarily bad about this; it just showed me I have changed, grown, and become quite okay with my last-minute, interruptible life.
I would appreciate it if you would start praying for the culture shock my squadmates and I will experience upon our return. This once in a lifetime trip has given us a different perspective of the world, but I don’t want it to turn into frustration with those who have not experienced what we have, but rather a sense of stewardship to use all God has given us to the best of our abilities.
Now we have returned to Ninhue for about five more weeks! This is the longest we have been or will be in one place for the entirety of the Race, so we are stoked to see what we can do here in that amount of time. We will be continuing with children’s ministry, visiting churches in the surrounding areas for things like street evangelism events, helping teach and sharing our stories of what God has done on the World Race in both English classes and Religion classes in a local middle school, and continuing to build relationships and serve this community through prayer and everyday missional living.
Please pray we see the harvest here in Ninhue and plow the fields the way we should, making the most of every opportunity, for even with five weeks the days are still evil. Please pray we do not become complacent, but fight for these people, this town, and the country of Chile.
Other prayer requests:
-Chilean Spanish is by far the hardest Spanish for me to understand on the entire continent. It’s a cool opportunity, because they say if you can understand the Chileans, you can understand anyone, but it’s a hard learning curve. Please pray God gives us the ability to learn and pick up on the language.
-On that note, I will hopefully have a job interview with a school in Austin to teach Spanish within the next couple of weeks. Please pray God gives me the words to say in this interview and that His will is done, whether I end up teaching in this school or not.
–Please continue to pray for the health and safety of our squad.
–Please pray for the health of my team, that we would choose joy amidst everything and love each other by choice, not because of obligation.
-Praise report: my knee is totally healed! I started running some here in Ninhue, and my knee has done great. Thank you for your prayers!!
-Also, we have grapes vine bushes and fig trees in our backyard. It’s pretty sweet. We spend a lot of our walks picking fruit from trees in Ninhue.
-And we have horses that ride by our house each night. One night I asked if I could ride a guy’s horse, and he said yes! Ask and you shall receive!
-There are two videos below for you to watch. The first one is from our ministry in Mojos. Please watch this to understand more of what we did while we were there, and please continue to pray for the community up in the mountain jungle of Bolivia.
The second video is one I made about the week we spent in La Pintana for the Parent Vision Trip. It gives a great view of who the church is and all we had the opportunity to do during our week there. I hope you enjoy!
As I am writing this, I am praying for you, that you continue to reach deep and seek out the miraculous life that God has for you. If you think the Christian walk is boring, then start asking God for a more faith-filled life! If you think the life I’m living is insane, I promise you God has an equally exciting life for you, whether it is in the States or not. Dream. Live. Love. Don’t wait for life to give you a challenge God can use; challenge yourself by choice.
Thank you for all of your continued support and prayers.
Until next time,
Tera
