January 29, 2018 - WE ARE NOT THE SAME AS WHEN WE LEFT
What defines a ‘successful’ trip? Is it just that we all returned home healthy and excited (albeit tired and dusty)? Is it just that each leg of the journey was on time and smooth (relatively)? I believe that a successful trip is more than this. A ‘successful’ trip changes us. A ‘successful’ trip brings us home as different people than when we left. A ‘successful’ trip makes us more grateful, more open, and filled with awe of what we have seen and of those we have gotten to know.
In the initial blog post of this journey, Sonya wrote about our five years in Nicaragua using these words, “The most lasting and important [part of our five years] were the relationships that we made while living and working alongside our Nicaraguan friends. We had a window into how people in extreme poverty survived day to day. We saw people sharing what little they had with those who had even less. We found out what it means to laugh because if you didn’t you would cry, and we learned that God is strong and compassionate and at work in the barrios of Nicaragua.”
These relationships, this small window into Nicaraguan life, and seeing God at work in the barrios of Nicaragua were what Sonya and I hoped that our delegation would find in this trip and THEY DID. We were blessed with new friends, phenomenal hospitality from people of very limited means, and a confidence that God is at work in joy and in hope even in some very difficult circumstances.
If you can, come and let us share with you what we have seen and who we have gotten to know so that you, too, can be changed. Come and see. Come and worship. Saturday at 5:00. Sunday at 9:00 and 10:35. If you can’t come and worship with us this weekend – catch some of the stories in the “Weekly Messages” portion of our website, found on our homepage (http://www.shepherdofthehill.com/weekly-message/).
Pastor Jon
