The last few days my team has been building the second floor
to a house for a woman named Isabella and her two children. We have been mixing concrete on the floor of
the first level of the house-an area about 10’x14′-and laying block up above to
double the size of the home. At night we
have been taught by the greatest man of faith in the community, possibly in all
of Guatemala.
Our contact, Benjamin, is a pastor of a local church and
lives what he preaches. He gets up
earlier than us, works harder than us, skips meals, prepares a two hour
teaching for us daily, delivers the two hour teaching, and often times has
another group meeting after ours. The
other day he mentioned that the tithes basically cover the cost of the church,
so I asked, “Ben, what’s your income?
How do you get paid?” He
responded with, “I live on faith.” Over
the last seven years Ben has lived on faith that his bills will be paid each
month. He shared stories of God’s
faithfulness including a time when his wife needed a $4000 surgery they
couldn’t pay for, and somebody in the States contacted a ministry friend of
Ben’s telling him that they felt led to donate $4000 for some woman to have a
surgery. Coincidence?
The man’s testimony is incredible as well. After a childhood that would traumatize
anyone in his shoes, he was addicted to drugs for 18 years, tried to take his
life multiple times, and operated a prostitute house and two nightclubs before
becoming a Christian. He told us that
the change in his life was immediate.
For example, cravings for drugs not only dissipated, but it led to
revulsion. Now he spends his days
serving his community and church members by, among other things, building and
fixing their homes. He has stepped out
in faith, out of comfort and security, in a way that I can’t imagine doing
right now.
God provides. In
Ben’s life and in our team’s lives.
Leaving Launch training less than a week ago, I never would have
imagined that such a man of God would be pouring into us. He gets it.
He gets the World Race. He gets
what life as a Christian should be, what it could be. He
gets that he can’t entirely understand it, but he wants it.
We’ve only been in Panajachelo for a few days now, and we’ve
barely had time to connect with the Guatemalans, but hearing, seeing, and
experiencing a life who desires to be so Christ-like is convicting,
encouraging, and inspiring. Yes, passion and sincerity is contagious, but, even more so, Scripture is powerful and convicting.
I knew that I would be shaped and molded throughout this
experience, but I never thought it would be so direct and intentional.
