Nicaraguan Rain

As we climb aboard the dilapidated yellow school bus after an exhausting day and start the long drive home, rain begins falling, as if to gently remind us of the last 8 hours. 

The steady rain must be swelling the puddles and rivulets we jumped over today, as we delivered a small token of food to our friends here in Nicaragua. Like the rain that falls now, the small amount of oil, rice, and beans may dry up again before we leave for home. As the rain drips down the sides of our bus and slips between the rusted metal sheets that are the roofs of too many homes here, it brings needed relief and nourishes the ground, the animals, and the people. We hope that our own small rain of provisions and blessings will do the same for the people we love here, the people we came here to serve.

The unexpected rain is like the arrival of the Holy Spirit, who prayed with us and through us on behalf of and with our Nicaraguan friends. It calms and restores, bringing hope where there once was none, and washing away the dirt of past sins. As each drop mingles into a larger whole, we are reminded of those we met today, and our mingled futures, no longer able to be separated into its original state. Forever, parts of us will be together, changed, made more full by our time in prayer with the Father who loves us all. While our lips spoke many languages, and our ears could not understand each other, our hearts knew the others intent, and petitioned God for the same things.

The cooling rain washes away the memory of the intense heat and humidity that we swam through in the small church we spent our day in. Nicaraguans and North Americans sweat, laughed, and played together as we shared about our fears and our God who is larger than the sum of all our insecurity. Drops of little kids flooded the floor around our feet, photos were taken as though they were flashes of lightning and the fluorescent lamps flickered to life as our team completed repairs to a modified electrical system.


We pray that like the rain, that continues for a while, and then is done, our Nicaraguan friends will soon find the storm of poverty that surrounds them has finished, and they will be able to contentedly share their new found abundance with the less fortunate around them. Though the rain continues for the night, the sun must break through eventually, bringing with it a many colored reminder of God’s promises to us, his people.

The rain falls on the righteous and the evil, the strong and the weak, the deserving and the spoiled. May the rain find us deserving, generous, and firm in doing God’s will.

Distance

In Nicaragua last year, a few of our team got the opportunity to meet children that they are sponsoring through NRN, the organization we serve through while we are there.  They went to pick up their kids, and with Nicaraguans and Hoosiers jammed into the van, they sped off towards the exotic destination that would provide the backdrop for their meeting and merriment.  As they rattled and bumped through the streets, Ginny shared that many of the people they were meeting that day would never travel more than a few miles from home in their entire life.  Only the ones who were smart, had good jobs, finished high school, or were lucky and tenacious enough would be able to travel outside of the community they were born in.

With that conversation as the backdrop the van reached it’s destination for the day.

McDonalds.

Not just any McDonalds however…a McDonalds less than 3 miles away from their home.

A McDonalds that these children, who were 5 and 12, had NEVER been to in their entire life.

The sponsored students spent just a short time with my friends from Indiana, eating, playing, and talking,  The chased each other through tubes in the playhouse, and drank their ketchup.  They engaged in small talk across the table and shared with their sponsors what they wanted to do when they grew up.   My friends laughed, cried, took pictures and bought them ice cream.

For those moments they were eating at the table of rich men.  They were playing in the home of rich men.  They had in that moment, perhaps for the first time, more than they needed.  And they were less than 3 miles from the place they live everyday.  They were visitors in a world they had never known and were not a part of, and the time came for them to go back home.

My friends watched as their sponsored students walked the distance home that day, rushing to share the last bits of melting ice cream, the last bits of a melting dream, with their family.

They did not return alone however, and as my friends stand beside them financially, we hope that one day, they are no longer strangers to the world of enough.  We hope that they get to grow up, have careers, and opportunities.  With education, sponsorship and a lot of love, we believe they will no longer have to rent a space in the tenements of want, but own a home in the world of enough.

We want them to feel at home in the world of enough.  We seek to close the distance between need and plenty.

As I prepare to travel the roughly 3000 miles to Nicaragua again, the distance and the juxtaposition of our positions is not lost on me.  The opportunities and blessings I have been given, freely and without obligation, overwhelm me.  Who am I that I am given the privilege to share with them just a small part of my communities excess?  Why do I have an education, a safe place to sleep, access to far more McDonalds then I should ever need when they have so little?  How am I able to reach over oceans and nations when they can barely reach 3 miles?

I do not take the distance lightly.  I just wanted you to know.

 

Ugly Desires

I want to be influential.

I want to write, draw, create, film, photograph, construct and by all of those things be influential.  I want to make my mark on the world, to have a certain level of impact on those around me.  I have started trying to write more, in fact, I have begun to make more time in my life to do all of those things that I have listed above.  Essentially, I want to be known.  I want to be famous.

It sounds ugly coming out of my mouth, which is why it is difficult for me to accept that at the foundation of many of the things I do, is a desire to elevate myself above those around me.  I have a desire to be perceived as better than those around me, even if in fact, I am not.

The desire is ugly, and there is no way to just gloss over it.   At the same time however, even though I knew this ugliness resided in my heart, I thought I was keeping it under control.  I thought that I was not letting it affect my actions.  I thought that I would rise above that desire and be an even better person because of my ability to rise above it.  You may start to see where this thought process was leading me.

So when I found myself in Williamsport Indiana for a church picnic and concert on Monday, I swaggered in with all of my self confidence and bravado barely in check.  I was there to “change the world” by filming another part of this documentary I am working on.  You know, one of those things that is going to make me famous!  I was there specifically to film theSurrendering, who are an amazing husband and wife duo that sold everything to move into a 17″ camper and tour the country sharing their music anywhere they are invited with no financial expectations.  If you haven’t checked them out, you should!  Williamsport is where Joe and Rebecca set off from last September, and I wanted to capture a bit of what it was like for them to be back home after being gone for so long.

theSurrendering passionately playing

theSurrendering passionately playing

If I am entirely honest with myself (and you) another reason I was filming Joe and Rebecca at this particular event is that they had somehow managed to get the lead singer of one of my all-time favorite bands to play an acoustic set after them.   Matt Baird is the lead singer of Spoken, and if you knew me in high school, you might remember the Spoken hoodie I wore almost everyday.  So when I found out he would be there too, I just knew that this event was one I didn’t want to miss.

I pulled in at about 2:30 to a crowd that looked like about 100 people.  Joe and Rebecca went on at 3(ish) and Matt was scheduled to play at about 4.  I ran around dutifully collecting footage that I hope will be useful for the documentary, and kept a watchful eye on the stage to make sure I didn’t miss Matt.  Due to a slight confusion regarding time zones, Matt was a wee bit late, and by the time he arrived, the crowd had dwindled a little more.

Matt-2

Matt gets a little passionate too!

I don’t really know what I expected from Matt, but I do know that if I had pulled in an hour late for a show, I would be really frustrated with myself, and everyone, and everything around me.  My attitude would have been particularly sour once I saw the size of the crowd.  I think my inner dialogue if I were in Matt’s place would be something to the effect of “don’t these people know who I am?  I’m the lead singer of a freakin’ awesome band!”

So when towards the end of his set Matt took a few minutes to share a part of his story, I was a little surprised by the way he chose to finish.  He said to this crowd of about 70 people of all shapes and sizes, by no means the largest or “most important” crowd he has ever been in front of  “It is an honor to be here, thank you for letting me be here.”  He didn’t say it ironically, or sarcastically, but sincerely and intentionally.   He took this crowd of people he would probably never meet again, and treated them as family, as beloved friends.  I have never felt so included at a concert as I did in that moment.

Which leaves me to confront my ugliness anew.

I never even thought about thanking any of the people around me for letting me crash their party.  I just assumed that what I was doing was inherently important and that those around me would see that.  Regardless of intent, I missed an opportunity to connect with my brothers and sisters in Christ that Matt took advantage of.

I hope that I will learn from Matt’s humility and that it will change the way I treat those around me.  That I will quickly forget my self assigned importance, and learn to truly treat others like I want to be treated.

Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” ESV

Enough about me…go check out these awesome (and humble) people!

Matt Baird “Worship You”

theSurrendering “Oh Be Still”

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10 reasons I’m going back to Nicaragua

There are plenty of reasons for me to want to go back, I chose a few and put them together below for your enjoyment.   Continue reading →

“Who Do You Live With?”

I have been digging through old Nicaragua footage over the last few weeks, just to get a fresh feel for what the trip was like last year, and as I have done so, I rediscovered a bunch of moving interviews from our last night there.  This is a small section of Karalee’s interview, and one that I know was an unexpected part of her story that night.  It is a good reminder for me that every person we come into contact with has value to God, and could be struggling with something huge.  I often think of the translators and local staff as being perfect and complete, when in reality, they are as human as we are.

I’ve got more great intimate interview footage that I am slowly working through, and I hope to get to share it before we leave on our trip this year.   If you were on the trip last year, let me know what you would like to see!