With

Today we were deep into construction projects: chicken coop, garden, swingset, and groundskeeping. But after lunch we laid aside the tools and had a Sunday worship service for the kids, followed by a carnival. It was almost incredible to me how obedient all the kids were (I write this realizing how that statement will reflect on the level of excellence in parenting with which I provide my children)! The orphanage workers would ask them to form into groups by age, and not only would they actually do it, but they would arrange themselves in the group by age as well. Within moments everyone was seated and ready for the service. Ellen read the Scripture and we all began to sing together. And in that moment I realized why we had come: to be there with them.

You can do many things to help an orphanage from the comfort of your home in the US. You can give money, you can write encouraging letters, you can organize mission trips, you can pray for them, and many other very good things. But you are not there. You are not standing beside them singing. You are not sitting beside them weeping. You are not alongside them working. And you are not giving them a hug in what has perhaps been for me the most meaningful and truthful point of connection with every person at Ceracaif. It is not for every person to go on mission, but for those who are called, the fact that God has brought us here is the point of all the planning and sacrifice and perseverance that is required of us.

We saw this in our devotional at the hotel tonight. Paul spoke fondly to the Thessalonians in 1 Thess 3 of when he was there among them. He shared how he sent Timothy to strengthen them because he himself could not be there. He confessed his fears that somehow their faith might have been compromised in his absence. Paul delighted in their pleasant memories of time together, and he prayed night and day that he might be able to see them again. Love can imagine no more fulfilling reality than to be together with its beloved. And we know this is true because we see it in the heart of God. Paul goes on to lift his prayer for his friends in Christ up to the inconceivable heights of a desire that they might be found blameless and holy - and not merely blameless and holy to be an end in itself, but blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father, when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

This is our purest joy in this life, and our highest hope for the next. What is it that gives us grief, if not our sin and the fact that we were separated from God? What is it that keeps us going in our Christian faith, if not Jesus´ righteousness and the fact that we are now reconciled with God through him, justified and declared holy? And what is it that truly separates us from this world in a Gospeled way, if not the desire (and in Christ the ability) to live once more in the presence of God?

We are tasting of this joy here in Guatemala, and it is sweet. Rejoice with us and look forward to the day when we will all lift our voices together in praise to our Maker, and there will be no distance to separate us.

And while you are rejoicing and looking forward, comment on this blog! We are starting to think nobody is reading them. :) The people who gave money and wrote encouraging letters and organized the trip and prayed for us and are keeping our kids are the faithful workers God has used to enable us to be with the saints here in Xela, and we earnestly desire to hear from you.

Love in Christ,

Jeremy