What Do Cranky Kids, A Dead Camera Battery & A Flat Tire Have In Common?

So, yesterday I was talking about having our own agendas and needing to be flexible to what God has for us.

I didn't realize I was also talking about myself.

Bringing the kids on the trip has seriously hampered the contributions we can make to the work here. Today, while Jaci was re-living her glory days as a dental assistant along with Martha, Arlene and Dr. Gottlieb, I was on kid duty.

I felt like a loser because I wasn't really contributing. During my brief stint at Proximos Pasos, I:

A. Changed a poopy diaper.
B. Chased my kids around trying to keep them away from Mommy.
C. Had to clean up the cups with soil and little plants in them that Jackson threw on the floor.
D. Had to deal with repeated temper tantrums by Reagan.

We left before lunch to take the kids home. One of the team members, Sara, said to me today that she was trying not to get frustrated by feeling like she wasn't doing much. (Which she was: Sara and Becca were entertaining the local kids at the dental clinic by having them color and playing with them.) She said that she was trying to understand that she didn't have to be doing something super important every second to be contributing. As she put it, "I don't really have any skills, but I can play with the kids."

Little did I realize that the Lord was speaking to me!

So, I figured I would take out the camera and take pictures of the clinic in action to put on the blog. Surely, my role in all this was to convey the work to the folks back home.

The camera wouldn't work. It's battery was dead.

Jackson pooped himself. We had no wipes for some reason. (Thankfully Margaret gave me some wipes that are primarily used for removing make-up.)

Reagan freaked out. Over and over again. Her stomach hurt. She was tired. She wanted to see mommy. She was cold.

I don't think bringing the kids on the trip was a mistake. They are holding us back. I barely contributed anything today.

I do believe, however, that they are here for a reason. The rich cultural experience and exposure to mission work like this is still worth the price of admission. I also believe that maybe, just maybe, they are here to teach Jaci and I something.

Serving on a missions trip is like anything in life. There are very clear forces at work trying to keep you from succeeding.

It wasn't an accident that the camera wasn't working, or that the kids weren't being good, or that Lauren had some random person let air out of her tire.

It's kind of like all those times I tried to lose weight and mysteriously found myself sitting in a fast food restaurant eating junk. Okay, maybe that was just a failure of will power, but it sure seemed like everything in the world was coming against me in a quest to find the newer, thinner model of myself. Up until this year, the only thing I have been successful in thinning out has been my hair.

Anything worth having is a struggle. It is so because there are greater forces at work beyond us. Serving here in Guatemala is not about me. It is not about what I can do. It is about what Christ can do through me. What Christ can do through Carol. What He can do through Jaci. What He can do through Pauline. Through Marcus. Through Becca. Through Hillary. Through Justin. Insert name of your loved one here. Through Gary. Okay, well maybe that's going too far.

"The stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone..." Psalm 118:22

Jesus didn't appear as everyone expected Him to. Judas was so disillusioned by what he expected to be a great political leader, that he betrayed him to death on the cross. And we know how that ended up for Judas. Hanging with his guts falling out. Nice.

In our lives 2000 years later, our own journey and task before us doesn't always look like what we expected either. So today, I need to rest in the fact that I am right where God wants me right now. I am a father to my three wonderful kids. I am caring for them so that Jaci can serve.

Right now, in Santa Lucia Milpas Altas, the contstruction team is getting ready to finish up their day of work.

Meanwhile the folks at Santa Maria de Jesus are finishing up the dental clinic.

My role is to be a stay-at-home dad so that Jaci can serve.

This team will overcome flat tires, dead batteries, poopy diapers, and temper tantrums. Despite those today, the plan of salvation was laid out to the kids at the dentail clinic while a bunch of poverty-stricken villagers were able to obtain free dental care, and the construction team at Santa Lucia began turning what could have been a disaster for the school there into a blessing for the staff and children of the school through their faithfulness.

When things don't go our way, we can lean on the writings of Paul in Romans:

"Not only so, but we also rejoiced in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produced perserverance and perserverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5

The kids and I will be rejoining our team in about 2 hours for dinner and some worship and fellowship time. Lauren will be sharing her testimony with the team tonight. I'm going with the expectation of being blessed.

Hopefully, the camera will work and I can show you some pics as well!

Hasta Luego!

I will leave you with a new Spanish phrase. Bill Brown asked Lauren to translate this because he and some of the other members of the team wanted to say it to the villagers.

Dios te bendiga. (God Bless You!)

UPDATE: Since this was posted we have gotten our first major downpour of the rainy season. Also, I just finished doing laundry for the Lord.