In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Acts 20:35

In the words of God’s beloved disciple, Maria Magdelana, “A givers hands are never empty.” I do not believe that it is coincidence that when we give of ourselves to something bigger than us, we inherently feel as if we got more than we gave. It isn’t coincidence, it is in our design. The feeling of fulfillment when we give; The freedom that comes with the release of worldy stuff; it is a natural consequence of becoming more like Christ. When Jesus simplified His expectations for us by giving us the greatest of the commandments: “Love God and Love others”, I believe He was giving us the blueprint to our architecture.

I was so struck after my first trip to Nicaragua. Eternally altered, though initially I couldn’t exactly figure out how or even why. It wasn’t as if I had never served before or been around those less fortunate. Then, on the ride home from the airport, while talking through my experience with my sister, she said something to me that has haunted me ever since. I so desperately wanted to understand how the people there could be so different and she conjectured that maybe it wasn’t just how different they were there, but also how different I was there. While we were in Nicaragua, that’s all there was. Loving God. And Loving others. There was no stuff. There was no work. There were no bills. No billboards trying to sell us something. There was just us missionaries, God, and a people who needed both. I was eternally altered because I had gotten a glimpse of how He created it to be.

A life of loving and serving without reservation is what He is beckoning us to. It is more blessed to give than to receive, because the reward that awaits he who gives his life away is beyond anything that this earth can provide or even comprehend. It isn't tangible or even visible here because it's deeper than that. It's inherent.

Nicaragua Pics

Here is a link to some of my pics from Nicaragua if you are not able to see them on Facebook

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34895158@N07/?saved=1

Learnings from Nicaragua

I’m haunted by the innocent joy of the people there. The joy of kids, who by our standards have nothing. Many of whom eat one meal a day, five days a week. I am haunted by the kindness of the adults whose homes, (we Americans would call it personal space), are being invaded by total strangers. But they aren’t put off or annoyed, but rather joyous and celebratory in our very presence. I was welcomed into my friend David’s home in a manner that has never happened to me in my life. As he took my hand and led me with excitement to meet his mother and sister, I expected a formal hello between adults. But that is not what I got. She hugged me and kissed my cheek. She invited us to stay and sit and began to pull up the tattered plastic chairs she had to give us a seat, while they stood, for she had given us strangers all the seating accommodations she had. I was perplexed when David ran into the house while we were there to visit with him, but overjoyed when he returned with his newborn niece and handed her to me. Something that must have been considered one of their most precious belongings, a newborn child, and he just wanted to share her with me. I was ruined. I am ruined. As I tried to tell my sister of this experience, I just wanted to figure out how they could be so different there in the way that they extend grace and unconditional love. She reminded me that maybe it wasn’t just about how different they are there, but also how different I was there. I was struck. The people of Puchacaupe gave me a bigger gift than I could ever give them. Because they gave me a glimpse of the me that Jesus sees. As I was seeing Christ in them, I believe that they were seeing Him in me. Oh what a gift.