Life lessons come in many different ways. Until last week, I had never traveled outside of the USA. I returned last night from a trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, organized by Dan Moran Ministries from Birmingham, AL. We spent several days of ministry working in schools, local churches, a feeding center and an orphanage. Honduras is a beautiful country and our hosts and translators were absolutely wonderful. I've spent some time trying to collect my thoughts on the past week. I'm not sure if God will lead me back there again, but if he does, I wouldn't hesitate to go. One of the Christian principles I try to follow is to find out where God is working and then get in on it. God is definitely working in Honduras. It's exciting to see.I'm not quite sure where or when I got the idea that the USA is the focal point of the planet, but somewhere along the line I developed what became a quiet arrogance that is sadly too common here in my country. We somehow think that since God has blessed our nation so tremendously, that we have somehow become his anointed and appointed keepers of the faith around the globe. After what I've experienced this week, I no longer think that way.
The Church in Honduras is growing rapidly. The message of Christ is being preached and taught all over the nation. Honduran believers are reproducing themselves in an exciting way. I met a young Honduran college student who told me his ambition in life was to own a home so that he could host Bible studies. How different is that from the "American Dream"? Humbling, isn't it?
The local churches in San Pedro Sula are multiplying also. Our host church, Jerusalem Baptist Church, has birthed several daughter churches and they are all continuing to grow and strengthen. (In my own mind, I couldn't help but contrast that with the North American concept of the mega-church. I'm not criticizing the mega-church, only noting the different paradigm.) We spent a day with one of these daughter churches, going door-to-door inviting people to a midweek service, playing games with the children, sharing our stories of faith in Christ, and presenting God's plan of salvation at a late afternoon service. The church had the vision, knowledge and ability, they gave us the direction and we only provided the workers.
The Bible tells us that God is spirit, and we must worship him in spirit and truth. How about 26 North Americans singing "How Great Thou Art" in English alongside a hundred Hondurans, all singing in Spanish? A special experience, indeed. I believe God understood us all and was quite happy with the joyful noise that was raised.
When God decides to move and work, he doesn't need my ability, he only wants my availability. On our last day in country we visited a local market. I got an opportunity to chat with one of the local merchants. I my opinion, it wasn't much of a chat because we spent most of the time smiling and laughing at my version of Spanish. Finally she asked me why I was different from most Americans. She was curious why I smiled so much. I managed somehow to tell her that I had Jesus in my heart and he comes out in my face. Through her broken English and my mangled Spanish, God spoke. "Cristo te ama y yo tombien" - "Christ loves you, and so do I".
How great is our God?
