Wednesday afternoon about 3:45 PM we rolled into the New Harvest Church parking lot. Our convoy of three dusty and only slightly damaged vans and one pick-up truck pulled into our final destination—home. Well, sort of, we all still had to unpack, clean out the vehicles, and then travel to our individual homes; but the adventure was officially over as each vehicle came to a halt.
We had 37 people ranging in age from 15 to 49 (yep, I was the senior citizen on this trip). Once in Mexico, we split into two crews, one building a house for a family and the crew I was on built a church. Granted, the structures we built are bare bones, nothing hugely elaborate, but considering we had four days to accomplish even bare bones construction is a strong testament to God working through those He’s called to serve in this manner.
The pastor of the church we built is Pastor Juan, a Mexican church planter. He’s planted churches in Tijuana and our church was his first in Rosarito, at least as near as I could figure out. While he speaks no English, he did have a bilingual friend, Carlos, on the job site to aid in translation. Carlos had his two young, home-schooled children with him most of the time; on our last day, however, they had caught a plane bound for LA so they could visit their Mom who lives and works there.
The work itself was hard labor in a dusty environment under a very hot, unrelenting sun. We were continually encouraged by Nurse Mike (a genuine RN who wields a hammer as well as he does a first aid kit) to drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Those who did not follow his advice, paid for it with headaches and nausea; those of us who did heed his advice were rewarded with good health and frequent bathroom breaks.
When it was all finished, Pastor Juan invited us to the first service at the new church just hours after we finished building it. He taught from Mark 4:35-41 and Psalm 20 about persevering through any “problema” that comes our way rather than using our problems as excuses to give up or blame others.
While Carlos adeptly translated his message, the passion of the message was unmistakable. Pastor Juan clearly communicated a genuine zeal for the Lord that any person of any culture could easily grasp. Here’s a man sleeping on a floor, no mat or pillow from what we could see, preaching about persevering in God’s strength and goodness. A man who has planted six other churches and is enduring his own personal struggles while still bringing a message to rival any message I’ve ever heard whether in person, or via DVD or podcast. At this little bare bones church atop a dusty Rosarito hill was a powerful demonstration of two cultures and two languages, but one God, one Scripture; the same God worshipped world-wide, the same God who has been worshipped for thousands of years. The same God Who breathed His Word for us to read, study, believe, and live. This same Word has been read for centuries and is the same Word that both Pastor Juan and I read in our morning devotionals even though we are 1,500 miles apart.
Maybe I’m making too big a deal out of this, but the further I get from that experience, the more profound it becomes. God is real. God is big. And, yes, God is everywhere present! The same God is in Keizer, Oregon that is in Rosarito, Mexico. So we all endured long drives and late nights, hard work and hot weather; sleeping on floors and thin mats in smelly tents; but our minor and momentary discomfort cannot even compare to the power and grace God showed by allowing us to sit at the feet of Pastor Juan to witness God’s hand at work in an authentic multicultural way.
But now that I’ve been home for a few days, I start asking myself a series of questions (if you have any input on these questions, please leave a comment):
· One day in the van coming back from the work site we played the song The Stand. There’s a lyric in this song that speaks to being totally surrendered. Am I totally surrendered? Are you? What does being totally surrendered look like in today’s American suburbia? Do I even know anyone who’s genuinely totally surrendered? Can a person be totally surrendered 24/7?
· Our Pastor Chad taught on the difference between a missional experience vs. missional living. Do I really grasp the difference? Am I really committed to grasping the difference? Are you?
· Where does my life land on the continuum of selfish living to selfless living?
· When is godly help rolling up my sleeves and sharing a burden and when is it allowing a person to work through their situation on their own (with God’s help, of course)?
· What questions do you have? How sold out are we for Jesus? Really, how sold out are we? I’m nowhere near where I want to be, are you?
These are just a few of the questions that have popped up in my journal over the last few days; I’m sure there’ll be more.
