The Light in Darkness

Darkness encamps around us.  The earth is moaning full of destruction, disease, and death. 

Hamas and Israel war and Palestinians and Israelis die, ISIS beheads children and buries people alive, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Syrians barely survive in refugee camps, others journey through the desert or hole up on the top of a mountain in pursuit of safety, airplanes are blown out of the sky, Russia is stealing land from Ukraine and more death, more destruction and then Ebola brings Africans to death’s door and the list goes on of the number of people around the world who need to know they are not forgotten, who need a life-line, who need a rescuer.

My heart aches and I watch and I pray.

As I pray, with few words because what does one really say when death and destruction abound, I hear these words over and over again…

The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  John 1: 5

In the midst of all the evil, the darkness, God’s goodness, His light, is there even when it is difficult to see.  Sometimes His light seems small or comes in unexpected ways or in unexpected places.  You know, Jesus, the light of the world, was just a glimmer when he first arrived in Mary’s womb.

When evil encamps and surrounds we can take heart because Jesus is present. 

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.


I will strengthen you and help you.
    

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

“See, all your angry enemies lie there,
 confused and humiliated.
Anyone who opposes you will die 
and come to nothing.

You will look in vain
 for those who tried to conquer you.
 Those who attack you
will come to nothing.

For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God.
And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.

Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob,
don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you.


I am the Lord, your Redeemer.

I am the Holy One of Israel. 

Isaiah 41:10-14

When evil seems to be prevailing in this perpetual battle of good versus evil, we can be encouraged because He who is in us and all around us is greater than he who is in the world. This is also when we need to walk by faith.  And faith comes by hearing, hearing the word.  And what I hear from the word of God is He wins.  He has the victory.

In the darkness I see light. 

This summer in the mountains of Ukraine teenagers saw the light at English and music camps.  They found hope in the darkness.  They found their rescuer.  They know they are not forgotten.  And they have a reason to sing.

Fusion New Life Lviv's Follow-Up Culmination JV Upside Down 2014 from KristineLynn Williams on Vimeo.

This video may not go viral on You Tube, but the news of these young people believing in Jesus makes Heavenly Headlines.

May I encourage you that as we pray for the persecuted, displaced, dying and sick, may we pray that all of us will see His light shining through the darkness?


*Friends, Ben and Kristy Williams, are seeing God do a great work in the young people of Ukraine.  You can see more light at www.benandkristy.com

El Hermano

Early Wednesday morning the team arrives at the Dominican church.  At the altar is a man on his knees with his head resting in his folded arms.  Our host approaches him and gently speaks something to him.  I assume he is a man without a home and seeking shelter in the church.  He remains at the altar and we get busy with our day. 

I take notice of him, but when becoming acquainted with another culture I tend to observe and not ask too many questions.  I don’t learn about him I just make assumptions.

Later in the morning, I see him holding an old tattered Bible, his finger slowly moves over the Word and I hear a murmuring as he quietly reads in the corner. 

Hermano sits quietly behind me as I read a story to the children.

At lunch, he curls up in the floor in the back corner and covers his face with a small towel.  I am not sure how many from our team even notice him.

Now, I know he attends the church, but I still don’t know why he is at the church.  I assume he is there to guard the church and watch over the instruments and sound equipment.

The next morning we arrive and Hermano, that’s the name I hear our host call him, is at the same place we found him yesterday morning, at the altar.  I don’t think he has left.  I now know he is not without a home, but he is a watchman.  Hermano has committed to fasting and praying for the construction of the new church building for at least the three days I observed, but who knows the number in total. 

O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls;
they will pray day and night, continually.
Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.  Isaiah 62:6 (NLT)

As I observed Hermano, I realized he may be fasting and praying for our team who came to help raise the walls of the church.  He may be praying for me.  He may even be praying for you.  I began to wonder what his work looked like.  What encounters was he having with God? 

Although in the world’s eyes Hermano may appear insignificant based on his appearance, his job, and his material possessions, God sees him as precious and valuable, just like He sees all his people.  And God chooses to use him in his obedience.  Who knows what work Hermano has accomplished this week?  We see and capture pictures of the progress we made this week with each new row of block laid or wall painted.  But do we see the progress Hermano made in the building of God’s kingdom this week?  Do we even know Hermano is working?

I am humbled and full of gratitude.   A man I have never met in a city I have never visited lived in a church denying himself food for several days to pray for me, my team members, and maybe even my family and my church in Virginia.  He kept watch over us asking the Lord to work in us and through us. 

Through his actions he taught me and challenged me. 

And so I leave you with this verse:

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.  Ephesians 6:18 (NLT)

All Hands On Deck

Unless the Lord builds the house,

 the builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

    the guards stand watch in vain.

² 

In vain you rise early

    and stay up late,

toiling for food to eat—

    for he grants sleep to^[a] those he loves.  Psalm 127:1-2

This house, this church we are building in the Dominican Republic is not in vain.  The words from the Psalmist are true and we know our labor is not in vain.  

During these past two days, we have seen the Lord enable the laborers, American and Dominican, to work with unexpected speed.    In two days four walls have been built and headers have been poured by the hands of men.  

The team is a sweet picture of people coming together.  The young boys volunteer to fill wheelbarrows with rocks and dirt to push to the building site.  Other Dominican church members freely give their time to work alongside the Americans to get the job done.

The women on the team have been helping with the child sponsorship program to update the children's personal information and take a recent photo to send to sponsors.  We have been able to make crafts with them, read Bible stories in Spanish, and play  Simon Says and Uno.  Other times we sit around and the little girls just watch us and we smile at each other.  A smile or a silly face goes a long way in connecting with others when you don't have words.  

Speaking of communicating without words...today we met a five year old deaf girl who has not yet learned to speak.  Yet her smile and facial expressions light up a room and our hearts.  Her joy is contagious!  

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

    the guards stand watch in vain.

The Lord continues to watch over us as we have been safe, healthy and free from injury.  We thank you, the guards, the ones praying for us and for the church.

In vain you rise early

    and stay up late,

toiling for food to eat—

    for he grants sleep to^[a] those he loves.

Yes, we rise early.  Yes, we stay up late. But, He is faithful to give us good sleep and to restore our energy.  

We look forward to seeing what God does in the days ahead!

Building More Than

In a few days, I will be basking in the island life.  Well, not really.  I’ll be sweaty, dirty, and sore from helping to build a church in the Dominican Republic. 

As I prepare to leave I am confronted with this verse, the same verse I studied along side my teammates who traveled with me to Kenya ten years ago to serve the orphans, the disabled, and AIDS patients.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  Philippians 2:1-5


A decade ago this verse guided me to work well with my American team, to work towards unity, and to consider their interests over mine.  Now, I look again at this verse and see how it leads me to consider a team larger than the ten people with whom I am traveling, but also the Dominican church with which we will carry large cinder blocks to construct a church building.  


Paul of Tarsus (a city in Turkey) wrote a letter to a church in another country, Macedonia, to a people of a different culture and different religious background.  Do you know how he opened the letter to the Philippians?


³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, Philippians 1:3-5


Do you see how Paul views his relationship with the people of the Philippian church?  Partners.  Partners in the Gospel. And he is thankful to be sharing in this mission with them.


As I travel to the DR I need Paul's perspective.  We all do.  We are in partnership with churches all over the world to share the truth about Christ's love for all people.


In a way I am not sure why our team is going.  I know our task is construction.  But really?  The church needs eleven Americans with minimal experience to come and accomplish this task?  It probably would have been easier and more cost effective to just send the money and hire local Dominicans to do the job.


But maybe there is a greater purpose in our going?  Isn't there usually with God?  Perhaps he is uniting his people and building partnerships? 

The church we are partnering with is a healthy, growing body of believers.  They have started five new churches and currently have 250 people crowded in a small building, hence the need for a new one.  What do we have to offer besides financial support?  Our church has not planted new churches and we did not labor in constructing our own building since we hired professionals.  Maybe it is our partnership?  And partners get together.  Partners work side by side.  Partners enjoy meals together, to use a church word, they fellowship.  Sharing life together is awfully hard to do with people you have never met, nor spoken to, or even know they exist.  


So maybe, God's greater purpose isn't about the building but about growing the body, the body he calls the church.  Just as the bricks will be touching one another as the walls are raised, so will Christ's church grow as we touch one another.

  

Isn't this what Jesus prayed for in John 17?

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that ALL of them may be ONE, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Jesus' prayer for all the believers is for unity, partnership, and oneness.  Why?  So the world will know about Jesus and His father's great love for every person.  

This is why Paul tells the church if you know Christ and his love, if you fellowship with him then be like-minded, have the same love, be one in spirit and of one mind.


Are we task-oriented or relationship-oriented?  With mission trips I often think we lean more to the task-oriented side. We have a purpose and a goal that we must accomplish.  We have something to offer the people we are going to help.  But what if the task is the means by which to orient us to relationships.  The "job" enables new relationships to form.  In a way isn't this what the greatest Missionary ever did?  Jesus left his home to live in a new land to accomplish the task set before him.  His mission was to do his father's will, which included death on a cross.  And in so doing, relationships were formed.  Jesus opened the door to an eternal relationship with him for you and for me.  Therefore we are now united with Christ.


Relationships are costly.  Ask any man who pursues a woman or buys that engagement ring.  This trip, this sending of eleven ambassadors, costs.  And perhaps we can be a bit like Judas, who didn't like the how Mary chose to use her expensive perfume when she poured it out on Jesus' feet, and argue that the money used to send all of us could have been used to feed more of the poor.  But what if this is about more than feeding and building, but relationship and unity?  God spared no expense to have relationship with us.  He gave all he had.  He gave his son's life.  


And so may we continue to see Jesus' prayer answered and be brought to complete unity to let the world know that God sent him and He loves all people as much as he loves his son.