That is kinda how it has been lately. These days have been filled to more than max capacity. There is no denying that Jesus is good. It is not in the material sense that you see this happening, but in something far greater and more important.
"I have been blessed, God's so good to me, precious are His thoughts of you and me. No way I could count them there's not enough time, so I'll just thank Him for being so kind. God has been good, so good. I have been blessed."
No matter how many things get tossed your way, in the end do they really matter? Life is hard, life is rough, life isn't fair. Yes, we could dwell on those things. We could look at the hardness and darkness around us and let it consume us. We could have a cynical attitude and be justified in it. But why would you want to live your life that way? Why would you choose to look at life with that perspective? There may be some that will tell me that I am trying to ignore the fact of the reality of life. No, I understand it all very well. I am not ignorant of the evil around me and the dismal state of the nations. But I know what is coming, I know that there is life. I know that If you choose to find the beauty that you will find it. I choose to see the good triumph over evil. I choose to see the dawn after the darkness. I choose to see the beauty in the ashes. I choose life.
I know that it has been a while since I last was able to update you. I finally have found the time to write down my thoughts about Peru.
Being able to go back to the land that is packed full of life and brimming over with excitement was overwhelming. The air is thick once you arrive and you are immersed suddenly in a sea of arms and faces. How amazing was it for me to be there? How good is God? I believe Him to be too good to me. I believe it to be far surpassing amazement that I was there. I don’t sometime understand why He allowed it all, but then I come to point that I know I don’t have to question it or be concerned. There would be times that I would be standing there in the midst of the people and I would be completely overtaken by the wonder of His glory. I would open my eyes and would see the lives, each one searching and yearning for love and acceptance. They were all so eager to lavish affection on you but the need for them to receive for surpassed. I have been touched in a way that I know will be branded in my heart forever. You can’t be among the people and walks the dirty streets and not be impacted.
There was so many opportunities to minister, it was like God had specifically hand picked each moment for every individual person. I watched as truth and love mingled together in the words that were spoken by my friends around me. Language is no barrier for love; love seeps through the cracks and crevices and flings open doors. I was witness to it happening around me every where we went. I would see people talking to each other, one a white American and the other a native Peruvian, with out hindrance of communication. Jesus became our words and reached beyond our wildest imaginations. You know that He tells us that is what He does, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” He continued to amaze us over and over and over again. Just think about going to a school and being able to teach students there for the entire day! Imagine walking in to a conference center and hosting a 10 hour seminar for pastors (some that had traveled days just to be there). How about visiting a women’s prison that held drug addicts and criminals of many crimes? You visit all these places and you don’t come back from them the same. There is no way that you can distance yourself from the reality around you.
I want to leave you with a taste of Peru. There is no words to be able to describe all that happened while we were there. There are no pictures that can capture what we felt. I know that I can speak for the rest of the team when I say that we have been privileged to be in the presence of God. We deserve nothing and yet He opened the floodgates of Heaven and poured out His favor on us.
Loving freely and openly. What does that look like? What does it feel like? What does it sound like? I believe it is complete openness and freedom to be who you were created to be and allowing the other person to be who they were made to be. Who were we made to be? We were made to be people who live for the glory of Jesus. That means to live with out fear, to live in utter abandonment, to live unashamedly. Perfect love castes out fear, when there is fear there can’t be perfect love. Same is true that when there is perfect love there can be no fear. Imagine living life with out fear! Imagine the freedom that would come, freedom to live with out expectations, freedom from lies, freedom from living up to everyone else, freedom from being shot down, and I could keep on going forever. But, we as people have this perspective on life that there is never a life that can fully live in that unhindered freedom. There must be a catch, right? I believe that there doesn’t have to be. I believe that we were and are meant to live in abundance of life. Abundant life would mean a giving life, because there is plenty to go around. We are to share in each other and invest and love freely. Love that gives in abundance without expecting anything back is a beautiful thing.
I don’t know why I wrote all of that, but it was all swirling inside and had to come out. So there it is, I know that I could spend more time going into more details, but for now that is all.
EZ Photography
Carpe Diem::Seize the day
{take a peak}
Search
