How Far Will You Go?

Over the past few months, to say I have been busy would be an understatement. While me being busy has been true, I needed some time to readjust my priorities and did not value this or prioritize it in the ways that I should. That being said...let's catch up from the past several months, shall we? Since January I stepped into a lot more involving the Residency involving responsibility and ownership when it comes to the world of kids. Not only was it exciting, but it meant that I got to have a lot more input and speak into things which has been such a blast and a blessing. Through that, I got to have my first opportunity to be the Pastor on Call for the church where I got to walk alongside a mother who had lost her son to a car accident. That was the first time that I had walked with someone through something like that, let alone officiated a funeral. While it was something that I was nervous about, mainly because I did not know what to expect, looking back on it it was such a blessing.

The entire month of February consisted of getting to walk day to day with this mother and walk her through a lot of processing grief and meeting people where they are at. On top of that February was a lot of fun involving celebrating birthdays, growing in leadership skills, and going all in working towards Easter season. Most recently we had Easter which was my first one on staff and oh man was it different from what I expected. Easter was so much work and gave me so much more respect for those that work in ministry on events like that. We ended up having 6 services for our campus, 5 of those we provided a kid's service. While it may have been a ton of work, the reward of seeing kids fill out environments and get to hear about Jesus potentially for the first time was worth it and will always be worth it.

This past week I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to the country of Guatemala which ended up being my second one and second time out of the country. This was also my first time going as a leader, let alone leading high schoolers. During our trip we go to do medical missions with an organization that was based out of Antigua where we got to go into some remote villages, provide medical care for the people and share the gospel as well. Through the entire week I got to see God move in incredible ways. We saw people say yes to the Gospel, high schoolers take bold steps in their faith, people get the help they need, and we got to see God move in ways that we never could have expected. Going on this trip, I had originally been in the mindset that this trip was for the students and that I was there to help give them a great experience and help them grow closer to the Gospel. I quickly realized that this was not the case because the Lord allowed me to step into some points of growth this past week as well. One of those points being that I doubted my capability of leading high schoolers since I mainly work with and lead kids up to elementary age. Through this past week that was a huge thing that the Lord gave me confidence in and allowed me to honestly be more impacted by them than I probably impacted them myself.

During the week we got to experience a lot as we went through the villages. One of the marking moments for the group was when we met and prayed over a young girl around the age of 6 years old who had been diagnosed with Leukemia. In Guatemala they do not have good health care and the technology that we have in the states, so her finding out this news was basically a death sentence. The entire week we focused on praying bold prayers and praying in a way that we truly believe God can heal like He did in Scripture. We ended up praying over this girl for a good while and while we may never know if she was healed on this side of eternity or the other, it was a huge growing point for the entire team. I think a lot of times our prayers get comfortable, and we let it almost become a habit or rhythm rather than something that we pray, ask, and believe He will answer no matter how big. This moment of the week made me desire to pray hard, boldly, and get out of my comfort zone when it comes to the things I know and do. While I did not get to see healing with my own eyes, I believe that God was fully capable of doing so. There is something about getting uncomfortable in prayer that causes you to lean more into his presence.

The moment that marked me the most from the trip was something that honestly will probably stick with me for the rest of my life. During our last day in the villages, I got the opportunity to be in a prayer station where I talked to a man named Sergio who had been dealing with brain trauma for 7 years after being hit by a drunk driver. He had explained how due to the brain trauma that he could not get a job, meaning his family would go days at a time without eating because he could not provide. On top of that, because of how bad the brain trauma had gotten, the doctors had told him that he was a ticking time bomb and could basically die any day now. The thing that was a blessing was that he knew who God was and was a strong believer in Christ. The remarkable thing was that he told me that he could forget things that he did three days ago including people he met and including family. The one thing that he could remember clear as day was who God was and what Christ had done for him. I think that is a testimony in itself.

Through our conversation that had lasted over an hour, it had turned from us talking to him, to him sharing the things that he had learned throughout his lifetime. It ended up being one of the most meaningful and impactful conversations of my life. He was able to speak some English, but mostly spoke in Spanish and explained how before the accident he could speak fluent English. Now I can understand more Spanish than I can speak it and near the end of our conversation he gave some really kind words of encouragement that was even cooler to hear in Spanish. Near the end of our conversation, we got to lay hands on his head and pray for healing, believing that God could and would heal him. Again, while we didn't actively see healing, the desire for God to heal him stayed the same. The thing that broke me at the end of our conversation was that he gave me a hug and spoke in fluent English "I look forward to seeing you again one day in paradise". Something about that brought me so much joy and sadness at the same time. Obviously, that is a weighty topic, but it was one that marked me incredibly. I was able to hold it together while he was there, but immediately after he left, I wept. It was remarkable how someone who had struggled so much and gone through so much had so much joy and faith. The fact that I had met that man, in the middle of nowhere in Guatemala, made me realize how that conversation was not a coincidence. God used that man to have that conversation with me. What was originally me talking life into him, turned into him speaking into my life.

The more that I reflect on my time in Guatemala it has caused me to think more and more about the fact that it is almost easier to go to a foreign country, go to a remote village, and share the gospel to someone using a translator than it is to share with those that I am closest too. Isn't that a crazy thought? It can be easier for us to go out and share the gospel in a different country, but when it comes to those around us or close to us it's scary. This concept really got me thinking towards the topic of this writing about "How Far Will You Go?" This was a question I asked myself to go into the trip in the perspective of saying how far I will go to share the gospel in Guatemala, but I think that my understanding of it has changed. Now, I think the perspective I have on this question is how far am I willing to go to share the gospel with those closest to me? If I can go to Guatemala and share the gospel, I can share the gospel with those I am closest to. I think we struggle with this idea due to a fear of rejection. When we share with a stranger, especially with a language barrier, there is less to lose. When we share with someone close to us, there is the possibility that we may upset them, cause them to distance themselves, or think a million different things. The thing I have begun to realize more and more is that we are compromising and trading a friend's eternity for our comfortability. Sounds pretty selfish right?! How is it that we can be so selfish to think about ourselves and worry about ourselves so much that we pass up sharing the gospel with the lost, let alone people we care about. If we aren't willing to show them and share with them the gospel that transformed our life, are they truly someone we care about?

Reading through Acts this past week following Easter, it is always remarkable to me the boldness of faith that the disciples had to share the gospel, even if it cost their life. Peter literally would preach in a town, get stoned almost to death, get up and go to the next town. On the flip side, I struggle with being too scared to share with someone in a restaurant or park. I think somewhere we lost a sense of urgency and boldness to share the gospel with the lost and I think a big part of that is the comfortability that we have in our life. Whether you have a lot or a little, living in the states I think we forget just how blessed we are. Being in Guatemala gave me a wakeup call about just how blessed we are compared to others around the world. We can become so narrow minded that we forget to thank God for the simple things that we have. Because we do not truly suffer like others around the world, I think it causes us to become naive and complacent in our faith because we do not have to fully rely on Christ in the same way. That's not me saying that we do not suffer at all or that the things we go through aren't hard. What I am saying is there is a difference between having a hard time at work and not being able to feed your family for a week because you got a nasty infection in your leg, causing you to be unable to walk to work. The craziest thing is that the person who is unable to feed their family has more faith than you and me. That's a true testament of someone who is faithful to the Lord when they have absolutely nothing and live life with joy from the Lord.

So, how far will you go? How far are you willing to go out of your comfort zone for people to know Christ? How far are you willing to go out of your way to love people and represent Christ to the lost? How far are you willing to travel to share the Gospel? How far are you willing to go to tell a close friend about the God who changed your life? Whatever that looks like for you, we need to be willing to step outside the comforts of everyday life and seek people like crazy. In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd didn't just walk around and look half-heartedly for the lost sheep. The shepherd was willing to go as far as possible to do whatever it took to find the lost sheep. Christ did the same for you and me. If Christ is willing to go to full lengths to find you and bring you back home, how far are you willing to go for others? As long as we have another day on this earth, there are more people that the Lord is seeking to bring home and welcome with open arms. The question is, are you going to help Him bring more home, or are you going to get in the way of people finding Jesus? My prayer is that we don't lose the understanding, the weight, and the gravity of the gospel and how urgent it is that we share with others. Time is not guaranteed, so how are we going to live our life? Are we going to live a life that is conserved, timid, and scared to share the good news with those who are lost or are we going to live a life of being bold, confident, and fierce for Christ with no fear? You get to choose how to live your life, so the question is, how are you going to live it and how far will you go?