No Sacrifice

For the last week I’ve been in Guatemala.  I left my my family to go serve those that I love as if they are my family.  I led a team that had never been there before.  Actually, all but one had never been on an international mission trip before.  They left their families to travel to a place they had only heard of, not knowing what to expect.  We served through downpours, almost constant rain and threats of mudslides…mudslides were happening all over the country and causing multiple deaths.  We served near livestock, diseased animals and were constantly surrounded by their waste.  We worked through the language barrier without an official translator and had plenty of misunderstandings.  We were broken in ways that we never have been before.

Some call it (a mission trip) a sacrifice.  Surely paying the expense, leaving your family behind, going to a known dangerous country, working in a tiny unknown village in conditions that are less than desirable is a sacrifice, isn’t it?

But it is no sacrifice at all.

It is not a sacrifice to hold filthy hands and kiss dirty cheeks.  It isn’t a sacrifice to go back to the base at the end of the day with wet shoes and socks.  It isn’t a sacrifice to play soccer in the the rain, regardless of how many disgusting things are around.  It isn’t a sacrifice to be able to communicate only with a smile or a hug.  And the list goes on and on.  None of what we did was a sacrifice.  It was a gift to us.  We may have been used as a blessing, but I think we may have been blessed even more.  We may have gone thinking that we would be sharing Christ with people in another part of the world, but He drew us closer to Him than ever.  We may have prayed to be His hands and feet, but we saw Him in the eyes of many we met.

As we are cruising at 36,000 feet, my ears are filled with music that is causing my heart to overflow with thoughts of His goodness.  I will forever want more of Him and will spend my life praying, “More of you, Lord, and less of me.”  And maybe the song in my heart will always be…

“It’s all about you Jesus. And all this is for you, for your glory and your fame. It’s not about me, as if you should do things my way. You alone are God and I surrender to your ways." (Jesus Lover of My Soul)

Not all things went as I planned this week, but I am certain it went as He planned.  I can’t wait to share all of the details.