What if it Costs You?

Our last day in Chichi made my heart so full.

Started the morning off with the Lord on the steps out-looking those breathtaking, Guatemalan plains. We then ate our last breakfast having the wonderful, fluffy pancakes our host prepares for us and coffee! Afterwards we did our last hair wash out of buckets and got ready to go into town. We took our last ride in the back of the truck through the windy, mountainous roads into Chichicastenango. (man, will I miss that drive) 

When we arrived to town, some of our team members and our host went shopping for groceries to bless Wallo and Louis.

Wallo and Louis have been working for Juan and his family. They have helped us a great deal with building and the other jobs around the base at New Generation where we have been staying. These guys are such hard workers. Even though we were unable to converse fully with them, they certainly got many laughs out of me and my team trying to plaster, shoveling dirt, and the many other manual-labor jobs we did. Since, I pretty much always had to have a step by step walk-through of how to do what we were doing.

I would like to share a little with you about their stories.

Wallo is married. He has a little girl and a little boy who are both precious. Walking into their home to bring them groceries and to pray over them truly broke my heart. This man who is such a hard worker and always so kind is living with his family in a one room home that we would think to be a shed. Their belongings flooding ever space. They have no running water much less a bathroom. All four of them live here.

Louis is one of four kids. His sweet mother loves the Lord and is a devoted mother. Most of their family along with Louis’ dad are not walking with the Lord. Though, their home preoccupied more space still they had none of the things we would call essential in America. 

This is the reality of most Guatemalan people. Yes, it is very sad; It has broken my heart time and time again. Yet, our God is so good; I know for certain prayer is the most powerful we have to offer these families.

The Bible calls us to give to the poor, as well. Oh, how my heart has been convicted. I fail to do this daily. I so often put my needs above others. David Platt tells a story in his book Counter Culture of a time when he spent a couple of weeks discipling in east Asia after him and his family lost their home during Hurricane Katrina. He tells of how generous this church leader was to him and his family. This was firstly, an underground church; secondly, he says they had much less than his family. Yet, this church leader took up an offering and insisted that David take the money. David said the amount was a very meager amount, but it was a sacrificial cost for this church. With this story David Platt says, “I cannot help but think what it would look like if Christians and churches in our culture would give as this. Not to give in a way that is comfortable, but to give in a way that really costs us. And what would it look for us to give like that in eagerness and enthusiasm, insisting on the opportunity to truly sacrifice for our impoverished brothers and sisters around the world.”

Man, that statement moved my heart, and I hope it does yours too. There are so many today who are hopeless, who are in need. They need the Hope that we have in our Savior; they need to feel and to see the love of the Father.

Who is the Lord calling you to help today?

Maybe He is calling you to set aside the comforts; Maybe He isn’t. Yet, still I know we were not just put here on this earth to drink our coffee and to be comfortable. I am telling myself this as I write it. Because, give Kel a cup of coffee and a comfortable, clean space with a book and I am in my happy place. Now not all of us are meant to help Guatemala, but we are meant to uplift and to defend the orphan, the poor, the needy, the fatherless.

Psalm 82:3 “Defend the poor and fatherless, and do justice to the afflicted and needs.

Are you willing to still follow Christ if it cost you?

Are you willing to give past comfortability ?

Are you willing to walk today in full dependence on the Lord?

Lord, open our eyes and give us vision to see way beyond ourselves.

Burden our hearts for those who are in need, today.

Draw so near, God, to every broken heart and every hurting place.

Help us to act in immediate obedience to Your will.

Give us strength to give past the point of comfortable,

And to walk in full dependence of You, Father.

Your Beloved, Kel