Reflection of God's Grace After Devastation

The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant not to be bottled up and we should not allow it to be ignored. We should boldly spread it all over the world, local or on foreign soil. Believers in a Father who we never seen or felt but have the faith as small as a mustard seed to believe in such an amazing father, our God, showing what it means to live a good Christian life through helping those in need.

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.”~ Deuteronomy 15:7

Recently through Gods vision and guidance I went out to two areas (Matagalpa & El Chilamatal) that was effected in multiple ways from the hurricane. With prayers and support from others whose hearts teamed up as one uniting a flame, a light for Christ that we did not leave hidden but placed high upon on the mountain top. Restoring hope by spreading the love of Jesus, repairing 2 water wells, bringing the good news of the Gospel, repairing 6 homes, blessing over 200 families with a “love bag” of food and supplies, visiting groups of children blessing with hot meals, stopping every chance we had to shower them with love while tossing them fresh oranges which is such a rarity in the mountainous area of El Chilamatal. Along with a special gift that has touched my heart since the very beginning of me being here working at orphanages I always thought that the children are our future and wanted to equip them with not only knowledge but with Gods love of scriptures both in English/Spanish Aqua de Vida Ministry scripture coloring book/crayons.

Before starting through this reflection and journey, I wanted to share a story that was shared with me as I begun my walk with Jesus Christ out in the mission field of outreach. It’s about a boy and his grandfather walking along the beach. The beach was covered with many starfish that had been washed ashore. Every so often the grandfather would stop, pick up one of the starfish and toss it back into the waves of the ocean. After a while the little boy said to his grandfather, there are thousands of starfish on the beach. Throwing a few back into the ocean can’t possibly make a difference. As the grandfather faithfully tossed another starfish into the ocean, he said boldly, it will make a difference to that one.

Being emotionally and spiritually wrecked by this trip. My wife and precious baby followed me to the Matagalpa area and we were able to serve our Father God together, opening our hearts, minds and soul. Now comes the second part, the part that affected me the most because without my family, returning to the mountainous rugged area of El Chilamatal. This place is the first place I ever started being the hands and feet of Jesus as Aqua de Vida Ministry here in Nicaragua repairing water wells so it is always a spiritual and emotional high for me, if I can say that without be offensive. I believe some of the best forms of evangelism come in small ways with random acts of kindness, like throwing a starfish back into the ocean. That is how we can defeat the evil in the world, one kind act at a time, for example traveling upon the back roads of the mountains and riverbeds, playing the music kind of loud so all can hear throughout the valleys. Hardly any vehicles come back here so the people are interested in the new accordance that’s happening. On this trip I stocked the truck with oranges and candies to pass out to all the people especially ALL the kids got a love blessing. This also gave me an opportunity to talk and to get to know each other as you see in the photos. I am not shy…jajaja. But honestly, I get personal with them allowing an opening into their lives. Visiting the homes and seeing what poverty is in the mist of all the joy they have in the faces. In fact I have been coming here in this area for close to 4 years, 2x a year and have taken many trips to open up for me. When all this happens, it allows God to start working through me with his spirit. My eyes get blinded and my heart opens to what is around me instead of in front of me. Simple phrases to open a little laughter….Hola Hola, Pepsi cola. Which I said to greet the kids, so much joy lit up in them and all throughout the trip each one took time in saying this as a greeting to each other. I said as I entered many homes, villages and churches. You be surprised how much it carried in voices. Jajajaoh another was boy saw a plane high in the sky and said Shane arriba (look up) and I said without hesitation as a joke…adios shaneee……hasta luego (goodbye Shane, see ya later) and the laughter that came out of the boys was priceless. Every day no matter where I was a boy would point up at the sky and I would say the same thing over and over with much love it would somehow comfort that boy. I cannot even imagine the thoughts of these young ones here. The parents who strive to overcome an odd that is stacked against them.

Water is very important. We take it for advantage many times. I pray to God that more people get touched by the Holy Spirit to help bring clean drinkable water while restoring hope but it’s the love of Jesus that I feel more and more and more about doing. We need to bring the cleansing of the holy water…“but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst” My senses are sensitive and this is something I pray for. I want to be broken daily to what is not usually in my sight. Along with the blessings of the fruit and candies, I was stocked with some flashlights that were a blessing for some people. You be surprised how dark it actually gets with no light, rough rocks in all directions kilometers from anything worth going to…..worth going to…..do you know many times in my life after I met Jesus, my mind was lazy not to take a trip to church….making up excuses and reasons why not to go, the weather, no clothes, too hungry, head hurts….the list can go on……worth going to….really? How ashamed I am to call me a Christian because of my selfishness not to go worship and give praise and glory to our Father God. Well, these people in an area where you think they are not known, they are known by God our Father and they take the trip with all conditions against them and go find a church to get spiritually fed. Never have I met such a group of people that was led so very much in a spiritual realm that they seek and seek and seek…..I humbling bow down to what I felt as each flashlight passed from my hand to theirs which brings us to this point of time. Passing out food, repairing homes, restoring water wells, fiesta for Christmas with piñata and games, speaking life into many people while being the hands and feet of Jesus…