Hoopla

Over Christmas Break I had the opportunity to hear a great sermon at Kauai Christian Fellowship. The pastor was talking about the "hoopla" of Christmas and how the majesty of what happened by the birth of Christ should leave us forever changed. Once the gifts are open, the decorations are put away, and the hoopla has ended, there is still the remaining truth of the Gospel and the way that it should change our hearts and lives.

You may be thinking that it is a bit late for a Christmas post, but please bear with me because I have some big news that I am sharing and I promise that you will see the connection. :)

Back to the sermon...

The pastor shared a delightful analogy about musicals, and for those of you who know my love for all things theater, you can imagine how this one hit home for me. It goes like this: If you have been to a musical, you know that one minute the stage is filled with characters who may not know each other and are going about their normal lives, absentmindedly shopping in the streets of Iowa (I'm going with The Music Man here...) and then the next minute they are all singing and dancing together. A guy tosses the girl next to him in the air as they sing about the "Iowa Way to Treat You..." Then, once the song is over the guy and the girl go there separate ways and it is as if the song and dance never happened at all.

That's the way musicals work, but if you think about it, it is crazy right?! I mean really, if I was browsing the shops at Valle Oriente (the local mall) and suddenly a handsome Mexican flung me in the air as everyone sang about the spectacular sales in Zara this week, then you can be sure that once the song was finished I would not be able to calmly go about my business again! Especially since I would have suddenly known all the words to the song and sung them in perfect Spanish as I Jazz Squared around the food court! haha need I go on? You get the picture. My day would have been drastically altered and I would be crazy if I didn't acknowledge the incredible event that had just occurred. I would run up to fellow shoppers, exclaiming, "Did you see that?! I was phenomenal!"

The hoolpa would have ended, but I would never be the same again.

That's the way our lives should be after an encounter with the One True God. We should never be the same, we should want to share about it with everyone we meet and not go back to absentmindedly floating through life.

So that is the sermon (with a touch of my own local flavor!).

This sermon has been on my mind constantly as I reflect on the time that I have had here in Mexico. Last month I officially told Beth that I would not be returning to SMCA next year. It was a difficult decision to make, but I feel confident that the Lord has something new in store for me next year. It will be hard to leave this place, the people that I have grown to love so much, and the precious children that we serve. However, I am so excited for what the future holds.

Living and serving here has changed me. I have struggled through loneliness. My heart has been broken time and time again by the poverty, abandonment, and abuse that I see around me. I have be stretched and pruned in more ways than even I realize. I have seen the faithfulness and provision of God in powerful ways, at every turn. The Lord has grown in me a passion to serve and fight for the orphan children in the world.

My time here is not yet finished, and I desire to take advantage of every moment while I still have the privilege of living and serving here. I don't know exactly what is next for me, but I pray that wherever I find myself I will be able to be a voice and advocate for the orphan child.

So, in 4 months the "hoopla" will be over.

I will return to the United States.

But, by the grace and glory of God, I pray that I am forever changed.

~~~~~~~~~

"I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the HOPE to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints."

Ephesians 1:16-18

And when the eyes of your heart are opened to the goodness and faithfulness of our God, I pray that you are forever changed.

Joyful Blessings,

Jes