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| Luke (1st mission trip) & Daddy |
Imagine being in a mountainous region of Central America. You have driven for 3 hours to reach the last, small, city before you enter into hundreds of square miles of villages – also located in the mountains. You have a mission: reach a specific village to deliver the Gospel to those who have not heard, and deliver almost a ton of food to them because they are nearing starvation.
The only road to get to this village has a forty-five degree angle down, the roads are made of dirt, and it is raining. Some of the roads have split and created two to three-foot caverns down the middle, and are as wide as six feet apart. There is a caravan of 4×4 vehicles carrying food, and a team of people holding onto roll-bars in the back of the trucks. Miles of terrain like this lie ahead, and then you approach a part of the road where the caverns are so deep and wide, that there is no way for the trucks to continue. Walking on foot, carrying thousands of pounds of food, clothes, and items for children will be next to impossible given the weather, the terrain, the distance, and the weight of all the goods. Going forward with the trucks could be dangerous, and there may be no getting back out of the area because the roads are so bad. What do you do? If you can imagine all this, then welcome to a day on the mission field with Global Infusion.
Jesus said, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:22-23).
Paul writes, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Tim. 6:12)
I believe there is a breaking point between relying on yourself and the miraculous – it is called faith. It requires complete, absolute trust in Jesus. I also believe the we, as Christians, rarely put ourselves in this position. The majority of our lives can operate without faith. Sure we need to work, pay some bills, go to school, pay those bills, go shopping and buy gas. But those without Christ do the same thing. What are we doing to build the kingdom of God (not a castle for ourselves) that requires an absolute intervention of Jesus Christ, or it will absolutely not happen?
The end of our missions story in Guatemala is that we pressed on. We filled the gaps in the road with boulders and went for it. An unreached village heard the Gospel, some were saved, many more had the seeds of salvation planted in their hearts. Thousands of pounds of food were given away, children experienced a VBS, and a local Pastor we work with made a strong connection with the villagers, and will return to them.
