A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to minister to a youth group in Capiatá, a city about 45 minutes from our home in Asunción. Chariti and Kaylee traveled with me, and we had a good time talking and visiting. They are good girls with great hearts and an amazing love for everyone we come into contact with here in Paraguay. Let me give you a glimpse of what it is like to travel, minister, do things with family, and other daily things that we do in Paraguay.
During the girls and my trip to Capiatá, we were driving along the road, encountering smells, sights, and sounds that just a little over 2 years ago, were so unfamiliar and even unknown. The smell of burning rubber or trash mixed with the smells of chicken cooking on open flames, pizzas in the traditional brick ovens, or chipa baking. The sights of children begging, teenagers attempting to wash the windshields of vehicles stopped at lights, families selling trinkets, toys, clothes, or whatever they can just to survive, jugglers with balls or fire-sticks trying to earn a few coins, homeless children with no shoes and torn clothes coming to your car window, putting their hands around their eyes, trying to peer in and ask for a coin, and many other sights. The sounds of cars honking, children crying, vendors selling their wares, policeman whistling and directing traffic, people watching and cheering for their favorite soccer team, etc. When driving in Paraguay, there is no end of sights, smells, or sounds.
Chariti, Kaylee, and I were talking about different things like that as we traveled to the church. We have come to love all of these different sights, smells, and sounds. Some, of course, are more enjoyable than others. We started talking about going "home" in December. We can't believe that our first term is almost done, and it is time to head back and visit churches, family, and friends and allow God to minister through us as we attempt to raise our second budget. Paraguay, already, has become our home. Don't get me wrong. We love the United States, and it is our home, our country, our flag, our people, and our nation. However, God has given us such a great love for Paraguay and the people that it will be very difficult to leave here, even for such a short time to itinerate. We have learned so much in our short time here, and we are anticipating learning so much more when we return.
As we made our turn off of the main highway onto a side road to the church, I made a phone call to the pastor because I didn't know where the church was located. It was a dark road, paved with stones, and we were wondering if we had made a correct turn. The pastor told us to come eight more blocks and turn right. As the girls and I counted the blocks, we came to the eighth one and turned right. We drove for a while but never found a church. In fact, all we saw were homes. It was too dark to take any pictures of the houses, but my heart broke as I looked at some of them. Our home is a mission's owned home. It is nice with lots of space. Some of the homes that we saw were so small and so poorly constructed that I wondered how they stood up in a storm. Sometimes, twenty people will live in one of these tiny homes. It really makes you think about complaining about anything in your lives.
I have learned that when serving God, we never really lack what we need. Being in Paraguay has taught me to rely on God even more than ever before. Every time I speak, minister, or preach, I can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as He ministers through me. At the youth service, after we finally found the church, I preached from Hebrews chapter 12. It follows the faith chapter in Hebrews. It talks about the great cloud of witnesses and putting off all thing that hinder us in running our race. Sometimes, we are more worried about the witnesses and what they think than the race we are running. I brought a large backpack to the church and several bricks. I asked a young person to run around the church with the backpack on during the entire sermon. I talked about the things that take our eyes off of the goal, the end of the race, the finish line, which is Jesus Christ.
There are things in our life that take our eyes off of the prize, the goal, Jesus. Simple things like tv shows, girlfriends or boyfriends, friends, materialism, etc. None of these are sins, but they can take time away from our relationship with Jesus. For example, I could complain or worry about things that go wrong in our house (i.e. pipes bursting, roof leaking, yard eroding, security), but then I must remember homes like we saw that night. Sometimes, our enemy takes simple things in our lives, problems, complaints, worries, lack of something, desires, etc., and uses them to take our focus off of Christ.
As I was preaching, I asked the pastor to add bricks to the backpack each time I mentioned something that can take your eyes off of Christ. It became harder and harder for the young man to run around the church as more bricks were added. I asked some of his friends to help carry the backpack and run with him. Sometimes, our friends help us carry the weight instead of get rid of it. Then, I asked a couple of the youth leaders to stop him at the altar, pray for him, and remove the weights from the backpack. As they removed them, they placed them on the altar. I told him that once we give God something, we shouldn't go back and don't need to go back to get it. It's placed at Jesus' feet, and we don't need to carry it around any more. Then, for the altar call, I asked each young person to take a brick and allow it to represent something that is taking your focus off of Jesus. Then, take the brick, place it on the altar, and give it to Jesus. It was amazing to watch these young people, crying as they placed the bricks on the altar, as Jesus ministered to them.
Is there something in your life that is taking your focus off of Jesus? Allow Him to take if from you. Allow Him to minister in your heart and life and be the main focus of your life and family. If you do, I promise you that your life will be so much happier.
Blessings to you,
Charley
