On Friday, our last days in Punta Gorda, we finished several of the projects, including carrying the remainder of the cinder blocks to the top of LOL’s roof and applying the metal roof to the kitchen at TCA. On this day, however, we only worked half of a day, as our hosts provided us with the honor of exploring Blue Creek, a local river about 30 minutes from the TCA that mixes a jaunt through the jungle with swimming in a huge river that runs through a cave! For many of us, this last bit of Belizean wilderness provided the best view of God’s heart for adventure in our trip.
“I remember a time back before I was a believer,” Isaac stated as he reflected on the Blue Creek, “when I was just laying in bed, thinking about how much I just wanted to live out an adventure. The whole time I was in that cave, swimming around and hearing every splash and my voice echo off the walls, I knew God’s heart for me was to keep living this adventure with Him!”
It was during this trip, too, that we had our most potent chance to speak into someone’s life for Christ. As we waited near the mouth of the cave for life jackets, our guide, a 45-year old man from a local village in Punta Gorda, sat with several of the people from our group. He pointed out two snakebites on his leg.
“These are deadly.”
“Well, how did you survive?” Jonathan asked.
His eyes trained in on Jonathan as he answered him starkly, “You don’t want to know who I am.” It was clear at this point that he did not feel excited to share his true nature, but Jonathan pressed on.
“No, I do want to know you,” he said frankly. The man seemed somewhat uncomfortable, but he relented to the attention.
“I am a witch doctor,” he answered.
Jonathan sought more clarity. “You should know that in our language, a witch doctor is someone who worships Satan. Is this what you mean with this term or do you mean something different?”
“Yes, that is what I am,” answered Jonathan. Jonathan went on in the conversation to tell the man who we were and what we were doing in Punta Gorda, working with an organization that was committed to the heart of Jesus Christ and that each one of us had a personal relationship with God through Jesus, and that Jesus was the only one who could forgive us of our sin. The man seemed moved and intrigued, so much so that he even said that he wanted to accept Jesus, but that he needed to think about it more and understand more before he did so.
Jonathan promised the man, “We will return here, then, in several months and we will talk more. I will tell some friends who I know who also know Jesus and they can help you understand more, also.” It was a moment with clear indication that the Father’s heart was with us, even as we strayed from our direct “mission” of helping the ministries with their projects—that our purpose remained steadfast even in the middle of a cave in the jungle with a witch doctor in Belize!
Overall, my favorite part of the life we experienced in Belize was watching our team come together and worship Christ in whatever circumstance we faces, whether it was grueling work, competing with local friends in sports, worshipping each night, eating unfathomable rice-and-beans with chicken dishes, or speaking life into the people who God placed in our paths.
“For some reason, I just feel really alive,” Alex Hugel, one of our group members, said as he finished his week in Belize. His face was beaming with a tremendously blessed smile. “I just have this awesome sense that God loves me and that I’m taken care of. This just really changes everything.”
No comments:
Post a Comment