The Start Of Hope And Change
We’re back from Guatemala.
It was the adventure of a lifetime.
Thank you to everyone who guest posted while I was away. I haven’t had an opportunity to jump into the discussions yet, but I hope these conversations stretched you. Thank you also for your prayers for our family.
As you can imagine, I have a lot to process as I reenter life here in the States. It could take me a little while to get through it. I hope you’ll be patient, and I hope my pondering will stretch you.
Here are some thoughts from my journal. I wrote them on Friday afternoon after visiting the small mountain-top village of San Antonio:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the wearyand increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31
Today, we drove up the mountain to the small village of San Antonio. We came here last year, so our family knew to expect an extreme level of poverty. Kids at the school were hungry, and some were quite dirty. Many children were coughing – fighting some type of respiratory illness.
It was sad to see children living in these conditions. But I saw some glimmers of hope. GO! Ministries has continued to serve food to the children five times a week. This simple meal of rice, beans, and tortillas provides some nutrition which would otherwise be absent. GO! Ministries built their first widow home here in March providing a much improved place of living for a widow and her children. Another organization, Mission Firefly, has also been building better housing and a new cafeteria for the school in this small community.
“Hope and Change” is a phrase that has become so cliché. Politicians run on promises of bringing hope and change. So often, our hope is shallow. “We hope you like this.” “We hope we get a raise or a new job.” “We hope to win the lottery or to strike it rich someday.” And so often, the change we desire is misdirected toward the wrong targets.
I’m so thankful to see small changes in San Antonio. It would be nice to see these changes taking place more quickly, but I’m learning (again) to operate on a different clock. Guatemala Time is not the same as United States of America Time. We live in a culture where we expect and demand promptness. People are supposed to arrive on time or early. But in Guatemala, it’s different. If someone says 3 o’clock, it might mean 3 o’clock, but it probably means sometime after 3 – maybe closer to 4 or 5 o’clock. Guatemala Time is slower, less hurried, and more relaxed. It’s hard for Americans from the United States to understand time in Guatemala.
Similarly, I think we fail to understand God’s Time. He operates differently than we want or expect. If we pay attention and if we start taking notes, we’ll see that God always knows best. He works upstream far in front of our short-sighted vision. And he honors those who pursue and follow Him.
And so, it’s important to have hopes and dreams. It’s important to work towards change and future vision realizations. But it’s all for nothing if it doesn’t align with God. So our number one pursuit should be to know God and to see His wisdom. God’s wisdom will not fail – never!
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33
If you want to win – if you want to succeed – if you want to see hopes for change realized, you must seek God with all you have.