It’s hard to believe that in 60 days I’ll be sitting in the airport with a one-way ticket to Guatemala!
Why am I going? Good question…
I think God has been moving me. When I step back and look at my life, I can see a significant shift that has taken place in me over the past decade. I’ve become a Christian, I got baptized, I began working mission trips into my regular life schedule, I started seminary, I left my 30 construction career and lucrative salary to become 100% dependant on God and the generous donations of my supporters…and now I’m moving to Guatemala.
When I think about it…it all makes sense. I think God has been preparing me to do the “real work.” It all made sense when I heard pastor Andy Stanley say recently,
“Holy hands are dirty hands.”
Years ago, when I thought of the word “Holy”, the thought would be accompanied by a sense of things that were clean, bright, and neat and often separated from other things. Just as one thinks of God in the Old Testament residing in the Holy of Holies, and the actions of the Pharisee and Sadducees in the Bible worrying about being exposed to someone who was “unclean.” They went to extreme measures to remain “clean and holy.”
When I thought about it, I had evidently carried this belief forward and was practicing it in my life and ministry to some extent. I was working in ministry…but from afar…my hands were clean.
My new perspective is quite different. I now realize that my version of “holy” was not missional…nor biblical. Missional work requires one to “get their hands dirty.” One must get out into the community and alongside those that they are trying to reach and help. It’s not easy and it cannot be accomplished from afar. One must engage.
That is what God did…He sent His Son to live with us...He engaged.
But why go to Guatemala?
I believe our God is a sending God and we are to go and be a part of those communities we intend to reach. It is in this engagement and through acts of service and love that we become holy and then become useful tools to God. I don’t exactly know why God has called me to Guatemala …but I just know He has…and that’s good enough for me.
So here we go! I am excited to begin this next chapter of my life as I put all my belongings into storage and move to Guatemala to place myself in God’s service. I have no idea what to expect…but one thing is for certain…I’m going to get my hands really dirty!