Guatemala.

Tidbits of Guatemalan Lessons:

This past December, I was privileged enough to spend a week in the beautiful county of Guatemala. There we were able to help begin paving the way to a bright future for many Guatemalan boys. 

The Reality: Statistics show a grim future for the young boys in the area we were working in. Most 3 out of every 4 boys join a gang by the time they are ten years old. The average life expectancy in this area is 25 years old, due to the immense violence and drug activity they are faced with on a daily basis. The general trend for these boys is to impregnate a woman and leave. Women, left and abandoned, seek love from the next man who comes into her life offering some glimpse of hope and a brighter future. The men have their way and leave these women alone with a broken heart and responsibilities greater than they could have ever imagined. Young boys are left without a strong male father figure and thus fall into gang and drug activity. While all of this is heart shattering, there is hope for these boys. We serve a God who is able to do the impossible and a God who can make broken things whole. A God who cares deeply for every, single one of these young boys and who has a plan and a purpose for their lives. 

The good stuff: Matthew 9:37-38 says, “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

The plan: Obviously, the harvest in Guatemala is ripe. There is a harvest field full of work that is yet to be done there, and a dying people in need of a life giving savior. While there we were able to work with one man whose plan is to give some of these boys hope and a better future. Nathan, is in the process of building a home for these boys where they will be able to receive a quality education, Godly discipleship and a place to grow in the ways of the Lord. We were blessed with the opportunity to begin the preparation for the foundation of this awesome ministry. While there we began carving a road up the side of a mountain, moved hundreds of cinderblocks and rocks, tore out a tree and did basic land preparations for the great boys home that has yet to come. 

Lessons learned: Working in Guatemala was some of the hardest work that I have ever done. Each day we put sweat and yes, blood, as we received many cuts and bruises along the way, into the land that we worked and the rocks that we moved. That land was our mission field. It causes me to question my walk with the Lord from three different view points.

a.) Why am I not actively working with the same effort, the same amount of sweat, blood and tears in the harvest field that God has set in front of me on a daily basis? Each one of us have such a mission field in our “own backyards” if you will. 1st Corinthians 7:24 talks about how God has called us each to a situation and that God has us where we are. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” 

b.) Just as Nathan is working to prepare a better place for these boys, God is preparing a better place for us as His bride. Am I staying the course, and running the race towards the prize as Paul talks about in 1st Corinthians chapter nine? Do I make every effort to press onward towards the goal?

c.) What about the areas in my life that need work? Am I digging up the roots, pulling out the weeds and removing the obstacles in my life that hinder my relationship with God?

These are slight tidbits into some of the lessons that God taught me while in Guatemala. While these lessons may seem commonly taught I feel like its one thing to know them, and a totally different thing to actually go and live them out. I am striving for the work that I do in the harvest field that God has placed in my life to be a pleasing sacrifice to Him. To live passionately for my creator and to be able to live out all of the things that I know. 

God is doing great things, not only in Guatemala but in all parts of the world. Continue to keep the nations in prayer as the coming of our Great savior is near.  

Volcanoes.

While in Guatemala, God, as He usually does, taught me many important lessons in ways that I did not expect to learn them. One of these lessons came about through hiking a volcano. For those of you who don’t know, volcano’s are very steep. This little detail was one that I was unaware of, but anyway. We set out on our trek up the volcano. Considering the fact that I love to run and do so on a regular basis I did not think this hike would be too bad. Well, I was wrong, which is not unusual. I found that each step was a challenge. I had to stay focused on the goal of reaching the top the whole time (Philippians 3:14, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”). God began to throw ideas into my head as I climbed. This trek was very similar to my walk with Him. It wasn’t going to be easy, I was going to have to work at it and I needed to rely on Him each step of the way to make it to the top. Sometimes during our hike the volcano was very steep and it was hard to climb, it felt like each step I took wasn’t taking me anywhere. Other times during the hike we caught a breather as the land leveled out and we were able to look out and see how far we had come. This reminded me of my spiritual walk and how sometimes, it gets hard, I can’t see where I’m going and don’t feel like I’m going anywhere but in reality, I’m slowly gaining endurance as I work my way up the mountain. Other times its going to be easy, God is going to throw a simple blessing in my life and reveal His goodness to me. 

Finally, when we reached the top of the volcano, I was blessed with one of the most beautiful sights that I have ever seen. I stood in awe of Gods majestic creation. The top was unlike anything that I have ever seen or could have possibly imagined. Sometimes in our spiritual walks we have to climb the volcano, its going to be hard but what God has in store for us is so much better than anything that we could have ever imagined. The amount of beauty in His plan for us far exceeds the amount of difficulty in our trials.

As I easily climbed down the mountain I realized lots of things that I had missed on the hike up. I learned that just like in this hike, I need to focus less on the difficulty of my situation and more on what God is doing in the midst of my tribulations. The land near the top of the volcano was desolate and dead. Sometimes we have to walk through the dessert to reach the beauty of the mountain top. Then as we progressed down the volcano, we entered an area with dead trees. God reminded me of Psalms 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” I felt kind of like David as I hiked through the wilderness of the volcano. God was with me through my wilderness and had such a plan for me. Little did I know what was waiting on the other side as we approached an area of luscious green trees and plants. I noticed that the same soil that was in the wilderness was the same soil in which the beautiful plants grew. God sometimes sends us through the wilderness to prepare us for what He has waiting on the other side. The strength I gained from the hike up gave me endurance for the hike down, just like our trials prepare us for what God has in store for us. Its humbling to me how God works and speaks to us in mysterious ways, who would have thought that I would have learned so much from a simple volcano hike. What a mighty God we serve.