July 17 - 22, 2011
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Honduras with a group of people from church. We worked with a place called Mission Lazarus that truly loves people the way Christ did, meeting all of their needs. Through this trip there were moments where I gained a lot of perspective. Those moments when you remember why you are alive or what is most important. I had many of these "illuminating" moments while in Honduras.
Some of my favorite moments involved working with the kids. Their hearts are so full of love for everyone they meet and they have contentment, which is something rare in our culture. One little girl reminded me of Jesus' message "Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me." Matthew 25:40 (The Message) The girl was quiet and a bit shy. I would ask her questions in my horribly broken Spanish and would only get a shrug or a smile. The next day we colored together, she scribbled her name down in the middle of her coloring page and pointed to it. Her name was Jesus', this hit hard. Mark had just done the Bible study about Matthew 25 the night before so it quickly came to mind. Loving on this girl meant loving Jesus. It made me wonder, how often as a church do we look at people in this way? The man on the street, the person let go from their job and many others. Do we look at them and serve them like we are serving Jesus. I know that loving the broken does not always happen in my life. The girl, Jesus', reminded me of that message. I still think of her often along with all the kids my group met in Duyure.
There were many other illuminating moments that reminded me that the purpose of life is not trying to constantly balance my budget or to have the next best thing. It is all about allowing Christ to serve others through us. And I do not think we have to go to another country to serve others, they are all around us. People who are hurting and craving love and help.
Thank you Honduras and the group I was with for reminding me of all these things. It was such a blessing to go and I hope we get to go again soon!
