Picture this...
Ten travelers in a van, nine teens from our weekly youth Bible study, and one 69-years-young yours truly. Eight hours of roads—some with more potholes than pavement.
I had forgotten how special it is to be on a looong drive with teens, how fun it is to stop and eat tacos along the way, laughing with them, listening to them, loving them. I had forgotten how cool it is to bunk with the guys in a dorm full of smelly feet and meaningful conversations. What a weekend we had!
Our destination was a youth event, where I had the delightful opportunity to speak. We shared in corporate worship, invitation and challenge from the Word, and Holy Spirit ministry. The entire night was pregnant with profundity and a sense of excitement. What a night!
The next day we began the road home. Along the way, we stopped at a Casa Hogar, an orphanage or home for children, to allow the teens to do just a touch of ministry. Here, Martin and Emilia told their story of how—36 years ago—they were sent by their church to serve at the orphanage for 12 months, and never left.
We drove on to another ministry, Ebenezer, a place of refuge for untouchables—addicts, criminals, and others saved by grace. Over lunch, Alfredo and Maria Luisa shared how God has shown His faithfulness. Restoring lives, providing when finances were lacking, and protecting them when the home was threatened by armed men.
We had time for one more stop in our journey and visited a young couple in Ensenada, home for a short sabbatical. Kevin recounted how they were discipled in missions one ex-hippie-turned-pastor and sent out to the field by the church. They are planting a church in a previously-unreached Mixteco village in distant Oaxaca, learning the language and building relationships.
But all that is the cake. Check this out for the icing:
The couple who organized the youth event once attended our city-wide youth rallies in Ensenada.
Martin and Emilia, at the orphanage, were part of our youth group in Porvenir all those years ago.
Alfredo and Maria Luisa were also sent out by the Porvenir church when they founded Ebenezer Ministry.
Kevin and Emily had been married for just one year when we sent them out from Porvenir to Oaxaca.
As I sat and listened as each couple shared with the teens on the road trip with me, I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of awe. What an honor to take this handful of kids from our weekly Bible study to meet these four couples—now workers in the field—who were once themselves teens under our leadership.
Talk about a harvest!
Thank you for making the road trip with these kids possible. Thank you for making possible the many years of ministry that produced the Martins and Alfredos, and the Emilias and Emilys. Wow. Wow. Wow. When we stop to consider all the lives God has enabled us to change together for eternity, we are amazed.
Thank you for your faithfulness in partnership and prayer!