Skip to main content

The Least of These


One of the biggest lessons God taught me during the mission trip and since coming back is that, although the world considers orphans and widows (and others) the "least of these," I, myself am the least of these. I am full of all kinds of sin and need a Savior just as much as my brothers and sisters in Brighton, Michigan, the US, Guatemala, and beyond.  We are all on an even playing field when it comes to our need for forgiveness and unconditional love.  Our friends at Casa Bernabé may have deeper unmet physical and emotional needs; however, we all have a great spiritual need.  I would even argue that we (my family) have greater spiritual needs because our pride and wealth cause us to feel that we can do this life on our own and not depend on God.  We don't neeeed him for our next bite of food.  We don't neeeed him for our shelter...I can pay my own mortgage, thank you very much.  We don't neeeeed him for our jobs, school, etc.....  There is something remarkable and awe-inspiring about the depth of the faith of those who own next to nothing.  Our friends at Casa Bernabé are spiritually wealthy and we have much to learn from them about relying on God and surrendering to Him in every area of our lives.

Part of my journey this year has been through the reading of the following book:


I highly recommend it.  It is applicable for EVERYONE living EVERYWHERE.  I am grateful to the authors for sharing what they have learned over years and years of "helping people."  They offer a humbling, new, biblical perspective.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 - Surprise!

We are deeply saddened that one of our teammates became very ill and her and her husband can no longer join us on the mission trip. They have spent countless hours in meetings and preparations and our hearts are broken. A few hours after we found out this news, Caleb said, “Maybe Timmy and I should go?” An hour after that we were changing names on the airline tickets and doing laundry and they joined the team! God is full of surprises. I would never in a million years imagine this would have happened. I’m so excited to have our whole family serving together again! We have landed in Miami and are waiting for our connecting flight. Praise God for travel mercies!

Day 2

We were able to get started on projects today. Some of the team worked on building some reinforcement walls for the canal/water system which involved mixing lots of concrete by hand. The mixer was broken but one of our handy team members was able to get it fixed after a few hours. It’s so cool to see how the gifts of different people become highlighted on trips like these. Our family worked on painting some of the classrooms. They needed it!!! After lunch, we were invited by some house parents to their home because they wanted to pray for us before they leave. Their family’s last day will be December 31st and we have grown to be dear friends. Casa Bernabe will not be the same without them, but that’s how life goes, right? The ministry will continue and a new couple will carry on loving the boys in that house. Please pray for the transition for boys in the house and our friends who are starting a new chapter. We were so touched that THEY wanted to pray for US. This is just one shining e...

Day 3

These children are “Jesus with skin on.” They don’t care if you are tall, short, American, Guatemalan, fat, skinny, young, or old. They will walk right up to you, give you a hug, and take you by the hand as if you’ve been friends forever. We were able to attend church with the community here and it is always an uplifting time of hearing God’s Word. After church we had lunch and the team split into two groups - one to continue painting the school and the other to sort donations. I joined the donations group and the rest of my family was painting. The missionary liaison has a list of the needs for specific houses so we laid the clothing out in order and fulfilled their “orders.” Most of what YOU donated is going directly to a child and we will probably see them wearing the items tomorrow. It’s kinda cool. Our team raised some extra funds this year so we will be able to purchase the remaining needs at Walmart before we leave. I didn’t take a single picture today, but that’s a good thing b...