Do I really know the Word?
Can God really use me?
These are the questions that I kept asking myself before traveling to Brazil.
We headed south for a 10 day, medical, dental, and children’s ministry mission. The team consisted of 18 doctors, nurses, dentists, hygienists, children loving, God loving people. Not one of our personality’s or skill sets was the same. Our ages ranged from 16 to 78.
Our walks were different.
We had one thing in common… I will get to that in a minute.
Our goal was to provide medical and dental help… right?
What if I told you that the medical and dental help was the catalyst for something so much bigger?
The setting…
Cardboard / wood scraps / exposed nails and screws / sheets… for homes.
Parasite infested dirt and sand / streams of excrement and urine… for roads and playgrounds.
Starving donkeys and dogs
And the people…
Anything from drunk and sick to genuinely happy and joyful.
So why were we there?
They would be able to get infected teeth pulled, meds for their illnesses, glasses to read, or just general cleanings to prevent near future decay.
Is that really why we were there?
My answer or ”revelation” came near the end of day 1…
It certainly was not because of any skill set or understanding of God that I had.
As I was walking back to our tent from the village, I looked up and to the right. I didn’t have to look hard before I saw God… He was in the form of a rainbow, not just any rainbow… a double rainbow.
It was right then, I realized I was part of something much greater. I was just a part of it.
I was there to let Jesus Christ shine through me. It could have been anyone, YES, even you.
But what does that mean?
On the second day at this village, we had seen so many patients, so many were getting meds, dental work, glasses to see…
Then HE happened…
A group of the villagers asked our brazilian, associate pastor what we were getting paid to be there. He responded that we were not getting paid anything. They asked again with the same response. He went on to say, in fact, many of us paid to be there. They began to praise Him. It was their revelation.
For me, with no medical experience, no dental experience, what was I to do?
Our ”common ground”…
Gods love.
The meds will fade, the teeth will continue to decay, the eyes will still shut down…
At least here on Earth.
What if the reason we were there was not for what we will see here on Earth at all?
What if the reason was not for the person we were seeing at all, but for their child, grandchild, great grandchild…
I do know a place, a time that the meds will not fade, the teeth will not decay, and the eyes will not shut down.
Do you?
Do you know how to get there?
More importantly, do you know how to get someone else there?
Isn’t that what HE wants? Isn’t that why we are here in this place of sin?
What if I told you a smile could get someone there? A hug, a kiss… a simple walk through a parasite infested, excrement flowing road could completely change the course for a 13 year old child and her child and her child’s child.
It was not my love. It was God in that rainbow. It was God in every one of my smiles, every one of my hugs, every, single one of my kisses.
My favorite chapter in the entire Bible and what I believe to be the single most important if you read nothing else is 1 John 4.
If you ask me what this mission was about, I will tell you two verses. I will say this is why I was there, why Lindsey was there, why the team I will never forget was there…
1 John 4:11-12
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
That my friends is the greatest mission of all…
Let God shine.
In you.
Through you.
Gabe
