Hey everyone, hope all has been well. It feels like a small eternity since I've last written, but I think God has given me some things to share with you guys that hopefully inspire you to ponder on him and his character. See as Christians we sometimes forget the basis of our name and what it means to be Christian. The term Christian in the greek literally means "little Christ." In other words we must exemplify Jesus, the Christ, in our daily lives as much as possible to be called by this name. It should also be noted that this was not a term that Jesus' original disciples called themselves. This was a term given to them by worldly rulers of their time. That being said, Jesus' way of doing things, the things his live bring people, and the freedom we as believers walk in, should be displayed in walking this walk. Now remember, we are not able to do any of this without the help of the Holy Spirit, a gift that Jesus graciously gave us, but we can accomplish this.
With all this build up, I want to share a small piece of Jesus that I saw in a very real way down in El Salvador that has awakened me to see a side of me that isn't quite fun. There was an intern down there named Jenissa and she humbled herself to the Lord all week as to teach us something. To some, her actions were overlooked or easily forgotten, but I simply couldn't shake what God was showing me. Every day we would do 4 to 5 evangelistic dramas a day. These dramas took anywhere from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, and in very hot humid weather. With all this work being done I had to drink an average of 8 to 9 bottles of water a day to stay hydrated. This wasn't much different for everyone else on our trip including Jenissa.
What she did is what some might say is simple, but I couldn't say that at that time I would do. With 25 of us from Northpoint, 5 leaders from El Salvador, and our bus driver; we were all always asking for our water bottles to be refilled. PAY ATTENTION TO THIS NEXT PART. Jenissa stood at the front of the bus and asked everyone who wanted their water bottle filled. She would fill everyones water bottle before she would get her bottle filled. I Would remember several small trips that she never got to fill her bottle. YOU CATCHING IT? I'll give you one more example. She at one point had to use the bathroom and asked if anyone else had to, simply to make sure she wouldn't have the bus stop simply for her. When nobody had to go, she told the driver that she would wait. She waited for 45 minutes then some others on the bus raised their voices to use the bathroom, and they all went. CATCH IT YET?
She waited in both instances to make sure that she wasn't going to be served. Her heart was make sure she was going to be served last. She had many other examples throughout the week. Her display reminded me of some very important passages that I have recently been looking at more closely.
"3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3-4
"26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-28
See Jesus wants us to understand that he never came to this earth to be served. He came to serve and in some cases I think this is something simple yet amazing that we sometimes miss as American Christians. Can you imagine what your workplace would be like if you never complained and just served your managers? Can you imagine what our families would look like if we served them without hesitation? What would our city, our nation, our world look like if we did things like Christians, Little Christs?
I love you Beloved.
With all this build up, I want to share a small piece of Jesus that I saw in a very real way down in El Salvador that has awakened me to see a side of me that isn't quite fun. There was an intern down there named Jenissa and she humbled herself to the Lord all week as to teach us something. To some, her actions were overlooked or easily forgotten, but I simply couldn't shake what God was showing me. Every day we would do 4 to 5 evangelistic dramas a day. These dramas took anywhere from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, and in very hot humid weather. With all this work being done I had to drink an average of 8 to 9 bottles of water a day to stay hydrated. This wasn't much different for everyone else on our trip including Jenissa.
What she did is what some might say is simple, but I couldn't say that at that time I would do. With 25 of us from Northpoint, 5 leaders from El Salvador, and our bus driver; we were all always asking for our water bottles to be refilled. PAY ATTENTION TO THIS NEXT PART. Jenissa stood at the front of the bus and asked everyone who wanted their water bottle filled. She would fill everyones water bottle before she would get her bottle filled. I Would remember several small trips that she never got to fill her bottle. YOU CATCHING IT? I'll give you one more example. She at one point had to use the bathroom and asked if anyone else had to, simply to make sure she wouldn't have the bus stop simply for her. When nobody had to go, she told the driver that she would wait. She waited for 45 minutes then some others on the bus raised their voices to use the bathroom, and they all went. CATCH IT YET?
She waited in both instances to make sure that she wasn't going to be served. Her heart was make sure she was going to be served last. She had many other examples throughout the week. Her display reminded me of some very important passages that I have recently been looking at more closely.
"3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3-4
"26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-28
See Jesus wants us to understand that he never came to this earth to be served. He came to serve and in some cases I think this is something simple yet amazing that we sometimes miss as American Christians. Can you imagine what your workplace would be like if you never complained and just served your managers? Can you imagine what our families would look like if we served them without hesitation? What would our city, our nation, our world look like if we did things like Christians, Little Christs?
I love you Beloved.
