After being home for a little less than a week, I can look back at how God was working in and around us during our most recent trip to Guatemala, and truly be inspired and thankful. While we were there He provided for Tabitha house, through sacrificial giving. He provided for us as a family, showing us where and with whom we would live when we arrive, prayerfully in May. He changed hearts and healed the sick and He saved souls, all in our direct line of sight. I am wondering this morning why these things shock or amaze us? He IS the creator, the King of King's, the Lord of Lord's, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the ancient of days, El Shaddai, Almighty God! Do we forget so quickly who He is? And then I realize we are the same as the Israelites being brought out of slavery in Egypt. They saw the Red Sea parted and they crossed on dry land. They were fed by Holy manna from heaven and drank from the rock. They were guided with fire by night and a cloud by daylight. And yet after Moses was on the mount for 40 days they forsook all of that to worship a golden calf. I would say to you that we are just like them.
God is at work all around us. We must ask Him to make us aware of what He is doing so we can be a part of it. When we were at Tabitha house is May, we saw children who were hopeless and unloved and when we returned last week those same children were smiling and playing and they even put on a show for us. God provided a woman, Carol, to go to the dump and love and care for women and children who otherwise would not get that love, or even more, probably not survive. There are women, who just 6 months to a year ago were on drugs, in prostitution and some even thinking about selling their children to get more drugs or just to make money. Now they are working and providing for their children by legitimate jobs and they are working with Carol to care for and feed these impoverished children. These are changes only God can bring about.
They opened up more area in the dump for people and it was said to house 650 families. It was a squatters camp, like a refugee camp. No solid structures. Tarps held up by wooden posts, anything they could find to hold it together. They call this home, some smaller than most of our bathrooms or even a walk-in closet. I am hurting right now thinking about some of the families we met who just need someone to love them and show them the hope found in Jesus Christ. It's the same hope that most of the people we know right here need. The question for all of us is, are we willing to live and love as the Bible instructs us?
Greg Brown
