Who is more blessed?

    I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to go on a few mission trips since I’ve graduated nursing school. Actually, my first time doing any type of mission work was when I went to Haiti a few months after the earthquake struck the island nation. Since then I’ve gone to Honduras a couple of times through the hospital at which I work. On each trip I’ve gone on, God has revealed lots to me not just about the work we did but also about the people we served. For this post, I want to talk about my trip to Honduras and some things that have really impacted my walk.

     About two years ago, through a random series of events, I was able to go with my hospital on its yearly mission trip to Honduras. Now many of you may be thinking this was purely a medical mission trip but I promise you, this was far from just medical. The cool thing about these trips was the focus on spreading the Gospel! The mission involved not only medical treatment for people but also adult and children ministry, dentistry, pharmacy, and even an eyeglass hut for those who need reading glasses or sunglasses. We even gathered clothes and other goodies to make care packages to hand out to the village we visited that week. Overall it was a very rewarding experience . . . but not in the way you’re probably thinking!

     While I did enjoy getting to help these people get the medical care that many of them would probably not be able to again for another several months or even years, the attitude that they displayed was truly uplifting. In Habakkuk 3:17-19, the prophet tells God that even when he has nothing, he will give Him praise and be joyful! For many reading this, we may not be able to fully understand what it means to have nothing but I saw many people who come from nothing BUT the faith and joy I saw expressed was inspiring. I saw many patients who were thankful for simply a small bag of Tylenol and Multivitamins! Think about how many of us (me included) have these simple pills available in our medicine cabinets or if we wanted, we can run to the store and pick them up. Even more inspiring was having this attitude of gratitude after waiting for a couple of hours or more in the hot sun. Through the long wait, they would still smile and be thankful that their problems were being addressed.

     At the end of this trip, several of us were sitting around talking and reflecting about our experience when God placed a question on my heart which I posed to the others . . . who is more blessed? We here in the USA or the people in this poor Honduran village we had just left? Now many would probably think “Well we in the United States are way more blessed than the Hondurans! We have running water, central heating and air conditioning, stores to buy food fresh food, sewer systems, paved roads, etc. I mean we got it pretty good here! USA, USA, USA”. It was different for me though. Yes, we Americans are truly blessed with these things; we have accomplished much, and don’t have to suffer like many others do around the world. However, I do think that we are spoiled and take for granted how blessed we are. Don’t get me wrong, I love this country and the freedom that comes with it. But I feel like when it comes to the spiritual side of things, the Honduran people are way better off than us for a few reasons.

     Let’s start with thankfulness. When’s the last time you thanked God for what he has blessed you with? When things weren’t going well, did you thank Him for the blessings you weren’t as aware of? Don’t feel bad, I’m just as guilty of this as well. It’s easy to forget who has blessed us when things are going great AND it’s easy to forget about God’s blessings when things aren’t going well. What I saw reflected in the Honduran villagers was that heart of true thankfulness. I saw thankfulness for those who got those small bags of Tylenol and multivitamins to help with aches and pains that had been wearing on them for a long time. I saw thankfulness on the faces of people who experienced relief from rotting teeth after they were pulled. I saw thankfulness in the eyes of the person who put on reading glasses and for the first time could clearly see things they couldn’t only minutes before. I saw thankfulness on the faces of kids who were able to get a pair of shoes after running around in shoes that were too small or who had no shoes whatsoever. And I saw thankfulness in the people who got to hear the Gospel preached and decided to follow Jesus. I learned what thankfulness really looked like!

      Another reason I think the Honduran villagers were more blessed than us would be the lack of media overload. We can’t pretend that we Americans are not bombarded by media! We have TV, radios, XM radio, facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. to fill our days and nights with seemingly great but in the end pretty meaningless stuff. I mean who cares that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are having a baby after she got divorced from Chris Humphries a few months ago . . . (the only reason I know that is because I work with some awesome ladies!). But you get my point! What’s the newest celebrity gossip? What’s the latest fashion? What’s the new hotspot in town? What’s the best place to go for a weekend getaway? Can I live without this new gadget? These are a small sample of what we are bombarded with on a daily basis, but they do make us lose focus on what’s really important. The great thing about being in the remote mountains of Honduras was NOT having to worry about these things. Our focus was on sharing the Gospel and loving on God’s people! This lack of media let me see how these people were invested in each other lives, pulling together to spread the word to as many people as they could about the chance to come be seen by a doctor/nurse, and just enjoying the fellowship of the people in their community. When you think about it, it sounds like a very sweet life! What would our lives look like without the media overload???

      A final lesson learned on this trip is how God moves in all His children. While in the village, we held nightly church services with the community, and by the last night we would have quite a big crowd of people! We heard singing from our mission team, the Honduran mission team, and then the local church finished with their own songs. After worship, we got to hear people from our team tell about their testimonies, they shared more of the Gospel, and then the local pastor spoke. The cool thing about this experience was that even though I’m not fluent in Spanish and didn’t understand everything that was being said by the Hondurans, I knew and felt that we ALL were worshiping the same God. By the time we got to the last night of church, the presence of God was so tangible, I was brought to tears. Just picture it, two groups of people who had nothing in common but their love of Jesus, and they’re all just loving on each other and worshiping together!

      Now that I’ve made everyone feel guilty about thinking America was better, let me say that I do still love this country and all we have. I’m not trying to convince anyone to give up their lifestyles, move to the remotest part of a foreign country (I refuse to say Africa!), and become a missionary. In all honesty, nothing felt better after getting back from the trip than getting to use a flushing toilet, then taking a nice, long, warm shower, and finally crawling into my bed while the A/C ran all night. My hope with this post is that people will start to think of what they should be doing with their blessings. The night before we left, one of the pharmacists who came with us led devotional, and one of things he said that has stuck with me was this, “God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing to others”. Powerful words! God blesses so many of us, not for us to store up earthly treasures for ourselves but for us to share our blessings with others!

     One of the things I always hear at the end of the mission trips I’ve been on is that while the groups are thankful for us coming to help, they remind us that there are plenty of people here in the US who still need to hear the Gospel . . .don’t forget them! We have just as many people who need not only food, clothing, and medicine, but also who need to hear about Jesus. We all have been blessed with different gifts and I think it’s time we start putting them to use. You don’t have to go out the country to impact the lives of someone!

When reflecting on mission work, here are the lessons I have learned:

1)  Remember to thank God, no matter our circumstances.

2)  Focus on what’s important.

3) God is universal!

4)  There are people in our own towns that still need to hear about Jesus and experience     His love.

 

 

Tell Them About Me

Matthew 28:18-19 – Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

For some time now, a question has been rolling around my head that has really been messing with my spirit . . . What is the Gospel? Since many who will read this live in the “Bible Belt”, I’m sure just about all of us could tell anyone about the Gospel (the first four books in the New Testament). We could talk about the promise of a Messiah, the virgin birth, the miracles Jesus performed, the parables, the 12 disciples, even His arrest, torture, death, and resurrection. Not to say that the life of Jesus isn’t important, but if someone was to ask what the Gospel was, I’m not sure many Christians could give a very clear, succinct answer.

A couple of months ago, my friend Matt went on a mission trip to China. Not a typical mission trip but a very dangerous one in which he and a small group would smuggle Bibles into the country. The story about what they faced and encountered to just help bring these people Bibles is quite an amazing and exciting story in itself, but there was one part of the story that really made me rethink things about church, the Bible, and the significance of the Gospel.

Their final weekend in China, the group travelled into Northern China to take more Bibles to Pastor Samuel Lam. A couple of quick facts:

1. China is an atheist state. They go through great lengths to prevent Christianity and other religions from taking root and spreading through the region. In northern China, if you are caught with a Bible, talking about Jesus, etc. you can be arrested or even shot on sight.
2. Samuel Lam is quite infamous among many in China. He was arrested and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel for which he spent 22 years or so in prison. His wife passed away not long before his release and since then he has continued to spread the Good News. The government has sent people to catch him but he always ends up converting those who come to him. Needless to say, this man loves the Lord and seeks to make Him known!

Anyway, Matt and the group made their way to his “church” to bring more bibles for him to hand out. Matt described it as a four story shack (nothing like many of us have experienced) in which people would come and line the stairwells, open spaces, and empty rooms 3-4 times a week just to hear him speak. He estimated that he’ll preach to several thousand people a week! When asked what He preaches on (a certain series, book of the Bible, or theme), he simply said, “I preach the Gospel”.

When I heard this, God really started messing with me about what Pastor Lam said, and even when was the last time I heard the Gospel preached in my own church or other churches that I listen to through podcasts. But more importantly, He kept asking me what the Gospel was. These questions bothered me even more because Jesus’ last command was “Go and tell people the Gospel (Good News)” and if I couldn’t explain this to God (the author), how could I explain it to someone who has never heard it, much less has heard it but doesn’t understand it.

Like anyone, I went to Bible to start to find the answer. I figured it’d be easy! I mean I went to a Christian school ever since first grade and could tell you about just about every story in the Bible, and over the past few years, I’ve started reading the Word for myself, trying to get a better understanding about the basis of my faith. . . I couldn’t have been more wrong! For so long, I had this view that God in the Old Testament was vengeful and sought to punish those who weren’t with him. Then He decided that that wasn’t working, so He sent Jesus and became all nice and loving. But the more I read and let the Holy Spirit start revealing more truths about what I was reading; I then began to see a whole different God. Then it finally hit me!

My take on the Gospel:

First, you shouldn’t look at the Bible as a book of rules and regulations (do’s and don’ts). At its heart, the Bible AND the Gospel is the story of a relationship. God created man. This pleased Him so much that He fellowshipped with them daily! After some time, man broke His one command (sinned) and that relationship was broken (Genesis 2 & 3). Even though man sinned, God went about trying to repair that lost relationship through various means: Noah, Abraham and the Jewish patriarchs, even covenants with the nation of Israel. Through all the ups and downs with His chosen people, God continued to pursue that lost relationship but in the end, that relationship could only be fixed one way . . . Jesus!

By Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, several things happened:

1. A lost relationship had been restored.
2. We have been redeemed from a death that we deserved but now don’t have to suffer.
3. We now have 24 hour access to talk with God. No more priests or other medians. Just us and God!

The Gospel – The basis of our Christian faith. When you think about it, we have an awesome God! He loved us so much (even with all of our shortcomings) that He wants to be in a close relationship with all of us. Not in a way where we go to Him when we want something but where He wants to reveal more and more about His nature and His heart!

On a related note, when we talk about our “walk with Christ”, keep in mind, it’s a long process. I would say it’s more like a marathon and not a 50-yard dash. As we grow closer and closer to Him, we become like Him (Christ-like). The idea of grace is also seen repeatedly throughout scripture. This is reflected in the Hillsong United song, “Inside Out”, when its opens with this phrase:

A thousand times I’ve failed

Still your mercy remains.

Should I stumble again

Still I’m caught in your grace.

This is a great reminder that we WILL mess up (we’re human after all) but the awesome thing about God’s grace is that He’s there to catch us, put us back on our feet, and then He continues to walk with us!

I believe these concepts are so fundamental to our Christian faith! I encourage everyone who does read this to: seek after God, understand the Gospel for yourself, learn why Jesus told us to tell others about it, and how would you tell someone if they asked you about it. Be reassured that He is with us all the way and that you’re never alone when telling others about Him!