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 Its Monday, and Trevor, Seth and I (along with some visitors from a church in the states) are walking through central park. We stop and buy fresca for a homeless man without any legs, and we buy ourselves some grama and tamarindo juice. As we sit down with the man, we begin to talk to him about his life. And we discover that this man has been to every country in Central America. He has been to the United States, and he has friends from all over the world. We discover how he lost his legs, and random crazy stories about his life. He has more stories and wisdom from his life than one afternoon of chatting can cover. And he loves God.

Faith. Love. Relationships.

That’s what we are all about. This trip to Nicaragua is not about feeding programs (although those are good) and handing out money like a king to every poor person. It’s not about visiting the hospital and complaining about how bad the conditions are. Its not about throwing our “religion” into the faces of everyone and making them say the salvation prayer, thinking that it will automatically fix all the problems. It’s not just about the programs we start, like ESL or the literacy program.  It’s about the relationships that we build with the people here, and the love that we show each and every person that we meet. Even if we only meet and talk to a person for 5 minutes. Ten minutes. Two hours. Once a week for the rest of our 3 months here. Every day. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is the love we pour into the people. The faith we live out everyday by the way we act, speak, and the way we ARE. Making a difference in one person’s life is the best thing we can offer. And if that is just by sitting and listening to someone talk about their life, than that’s what we do. It doesn’t matter where the person is from, what background they have, what they are wearing, what they talk about. All that matters is that WE CARE.

 
This past weekend, we had a pastors conference at El Puente, and the theme was unity. Mainly unity between the churches and with the communitys of Granada. Every single person there had differing cultural beliefs, differing beliefs on how to do church, differing beliefs about the rules about being a Christian, but every single person there loved Jesus. And that’s all that matters.  
 
It doesn’t matter whether we believe that the world is 6000 years old or 10 million years old. It doesn’t matter whether we wear blue jeans or a dress to church. It doesn’t matter if we have 100000 people in our church or 5. All that matters is that we are working together to further the kingdom and serving others with love. That’s it. And so I am going to go back to visit our homeless friend. And I am going to visit the hospital. And I am going to teach ESL, do the literacy program, plant a garden. But remember, that the time is short, and every day is important in impacting the kingdom of heaven.

4 responses to “If you wear jeans to church, you are not a christian.”

  4. I love this statement:

    “It’s about the relationships that we build with the people here, and the love that we show each and every person that we meet.”

    This is revealing your heart. It’s a beautiful thing!