Transformed

One thing you noticed right away about the Pastor of Mt. Olives was his exuberance. (And his wife was exactly the same). He had not an ounce of reticence or shyness about him. Everything about him was Big....his smiles, his hugs, the way he preached his message (Remember? The harvest is great, but the workers are few!!!). When he talked to you, he tended to repeat the same sentence several times...with more enthusiasm each time, as if, by sheer will, he would enable your English-speaking brain to comprehend his rapid-fire Spanish words. As he brought the second church service to a close on Tuesday night, he was up on the altar and his one-man band and church lady singers started to sing and play us out. Suddenly, he just seemed to break into dance. He was hopping across that stage like his feet were on fire, smiling and waving all the time. He encouraged everyone in the church to come forward and join him in his Happy Dance. Later, my friend described him as a man who looked like he had just won the lottery. His circumstances were materially so simple, compared to ours. But he was rich in his relationship with Christ, and he exuded a joy for the Lord that was just flat-out contagious.

As we drew near the end of the trip, the mission team talked a lot about how to hold on to the transformation we experienced in Costa Rica. It's not easy to do. As soon as the plane touches down at Hartsfield, you immediately feel sucked back into the whirlwind of your life. One of the reasons taking a mission trip was so amazing for me was that it afforded me the opportunity to be removed from all my obligations, all the control-freakish craziness that comes from trying to build the good life for me and mine. I purposely opened my mind and heart in Costa Rica and said, Here I am, Lord. Do what you will through me. There is nothing else this week except Your will. And I was allowed to experience the small miracles that come from total surrender. I realize I'm supposed to live in that kind of surrender all time, but I very rarely do it! I also experienced a new level of trust in Costa Rica. Knowing that I was openly and completely in God's will, and through the encouragement of our team's leaders, I trusted that He would provide all that we needed to carry out His wishes. And He did. Every day, there was a small voice of worry within that wondered, How are we going to accomplish all this stuff? And every day, without fail, God provided in a surprising and amazing way.

We talk much in East Cobb about not taking our blessings for granted. Most of the time, we're referring to our material blessings...which are great, no doubt. But for me, it seems that I've been less apt to take my material blessings for granted than I have been to take my spiritual blessings for granted. I am so used to being a Christian...have been one my whole life... maybe I've taken my relationship with the Lord for granted? Why don't I more often feel the joy and exuberance that Pastor showed us? Why does it take a trip to another country for me to truly live in surrender and trust in God? Why can't I do that on a day-to-day basis? So, there is the bottom line of what I learned on my mission trip, and it is the transformation I'm going to try to hold on to. Joy. Trust. Surrender. Amen.

Humming Along Just Won't Do

One more story from Costa Rica....

It seemed from the beginning that music was going to play an important part in this mission trip. It started with that stunning rendition in Spanish of How Great Thou Art at our first church service at Mt. Olives. Many team members used songs or lyrics from hymns during their devotions. There is something so stirring about music. Perhaps music gives the Holy Spirit an inconspicuous inroads into our hearts, allowing Him to swell up and bubble over when we hear that high, clear note or that lyric that strongly reminds us of something deeply felt. Even the fun kids' songs we sang in church complete with silly dance moves had the power to choke me up as I looked out into a sea of faces and noticed the joy on each child's face...in utter innocence, they were praising the Lord and getting a lot of enjoyment out of the act. On Tuesday night, when we attended a second church service at Mt. Olives, we found ourselves singing again....out loud and without understanding most of the words. Then, about midway through, the one-man-band told us he had a special song for the missionaries. And he broke out with Shout to the Lord. In English! This is, of course, a well-played song here in the US. If you listen to the FISH radio station for any length of time in the car, you will most likely hear Shout to the Lord. And the lyrics, so purely moving whenever you hear them, sounded even more meaningful in that setting, at that moment.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing

Power and Majesty, praise to the King;

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of Your name.

I sing for joy at the work of your hands,

Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You....

After he finished, everyone in the church began to clap and call out Hallelujah and Amen. The clapping went on. And on. And on. For five straight minutes. Later, we reflected on the unique nature of that moment...how often do you get to clap for Jesus like that?