Remembering
Simple Gifts
Ruined – A Brief Reflection On Isaiah 6:1-7
ISAIAH 6:1-7
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:“
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am ruined; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
This passage is one of the most striking passages to me in the whole Bible. It reminds me of my smallness and my frailty. It speaks of my total inability to make myself right before pure holiness.
A VISION OF TOTAL PERFECTION
Notice the progression in the text as Isaiah has a throne-room vision of God. What he sees utterly terrifies him – God is high and lifted up, the train of his robe fills the temple. He is beyond comprehension. We get no description of God other than him sitting on a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filling the temple, and his total, perfect holiness. In the vision, he sees and hears angelic creatures crying out, “Holy, holy, holy.” In ancient Hebrew literature, a word used three times consecutively carries greater force and gives that word the highest meaning it can possibly carry. So what these angelic beings are saying is that God is supremely holy. None can match the supremacy of his holiness. Basically, God’s holiness means his “otherness” in that it is uniquely distinct from all creation. He is set apart. He is “not us.” John Piper says of God’s holiness, “His holiness is what he is as God which no one else is or ever will be. Call it his majesty, his divinity, his greatness, his value as the pearl of great price.”
THE ONLY RESPONSE
Isaiah sees a glimpse of God’s absolute holiness and he finds himself utterly devastated. He is ruined by a glimpse of the only perfect, holy, glorious, eternal God. He cries out, “Woe is me!” which is a funeral dirge over the dead. He recognizes that he is utterly, totally devastated. He makes this plain by crying out “I am ruined!” The Hebrew word Isaiah uses for ruined here is dâmâh. It’s a verb that could mean “to be silent” or “to be cut off/destroyed.” However he is using the word, it’s clear to the reader that Isaiah feels a profound sense of dread in the presence of a holy God. He is utterly ruined because he realizes that God is totally holy, perfect, and pure, and that he is by comparison unclean, impure, and sinful. Andrew Bartelt rightly says, “a sinner before the holy God can only cry out in despair.” That’s exactly what Isaiah does.
A scene from The Chronicles of Narnia is helpful in understanding God’s holiness. Speaking of whether or not Aslan (the lion who represents Jesus) is safe, Mr. Beaver says,
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe.
But he’s good.
He’s the King, I tell you.”
God is not safe. He is not akin to a nice old man in a white robe sitting on a throne, listening to harp-playing, nude, child-angels. When the Seraphim called out to one another, the foundations of the thresholds shook. The whole place shook. What Isaiah saw ruined him. It changed him.
RUINED FOR YOUR JOY
John Piper says God’s glory is “the public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God…the radiance of his holiness – the radiance of his manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections.” Isaiah saw the radiance of God’s holiness and it shook him to the core. He recognized in that moment that he was a ruined sinner. Because God is not safe and because he is so utterly holy, Isaiah knew that he was undone. The text goes on to explain how God made atonement for Isaiah. Rather than Isaiah trying to clean himself off and make himself presentable to the king of the universe, God himself made a way for Isaiah to be purified. God had made a way for Isaiah to be in his presence that did’t involve Isaiah dying.
This passage teaches us something profound – a right vision of God’s supreme glory will ruin you. When you encounter the holiest being in the universe, the only response is to cry out with Isaiah, “I am ruined, for I am a sinner!” Yet we can rejoice along with Isaiah that in the moment we see his glory, and our sin, we are able to rightly grasp the magnitude of his grace for us in Christ Jesus! Just as Isaiah was purified through God’s appointed means, Jesus is the means by which we are declared righteous before a holy God. Jesus alone. Jesus is the appointed means by which a holy God and a sinful man may meet. He is our only hope, and it is for this reason that God’s ruining glory is also our eternal joy – because in it we find the sweetest of grace in Jesus. By being ruined we are made whole. By having a vision of the grandeur of God so large that we can never hope to attain right-standing with him, we are ready to receive the grace of God through faith in Jesus alone. God’s glory ruins our meager attempts to work our way into right standing; it compels us to rest, to trust in his grace. God’s glory ruins our petty attempts to find satisfaction in lesser pursuits, because one cannot exhaust his delights and his goodness. God’s glory ruins and devastates our pride and postures us to walk in humility. God’s glory ruins our insecurity, because we stand confident in the cleansing work that he has done on our behalf. God’s glory utterly ruins us, and the result is a harvest of eternal joy.
Think about that – God devastates us for OUR JOY! His glory, the manifestation of his holiness, utterly ruins us, leading us to cling to our only hope – Jesus. And when we cling to him, when we trust in him and treasure him, we find greater joy than we could have ever imagined.
Thomas Watson, a puritan author, once wrote, “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”
I would push that and say, “Till God be glorious, sin will not be bitter.” But once we see a right vision of a holy God, we see with stunning clarity the depth and magnitude of our sin. Only then will we find the magnitude of his grace for us in Christ Jesus so very sweet.
A right vision of God’s glory will cause our hearts to sing with the apostle Paul,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us…” -Ephesians 1:3-7
Let us pray each morning with renewed passion for God to open our eyes to his stunning glory and for a heart to receive him and exult in him. My prayer for the Church is that we see God’s glory in such a way that it devastates our sin and yields the fruit of repentance and joy!
Daniel Mcdonald graduated from Liberty University with a B.S. in Communication (2011) and a Master’s of Divinity in Evangelism and Church Planting (2014). He is serving as the Director of Communication for GEM, while his wife, Kristen, serves as the 4th-grade teacher. Above all, they desire to make disciples by making Jesus known in Puerto and around the world. To read more posts on Daniel’s personal blog, click here.
An Intimate God
Today I was laying on a huge rock, surrounded by the ocean, reading Perelandra, the second of the Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis. Ransom, the main character is visiting a new planet and he is describing the planet with such wonder and imagery. I put the book down and started thinking about Space. I was caught in awe of the planets and galaxies. I was so overwhelmed by how wonderful all that exists is. My mind could not think about it all without a creator. It feels to me, impossible. It just doesn’t make sense at all. Where did it all come from? There is no way the answer is science. There is too much creativity, there is too much heart to it all, there is so clearly purpose. All of it is too beautiful to point to nothing. I was looking at our galaxy in my mind and was taken into deeper astonishment. The earth was selected to have life on it. Life that can be sustained because of the way it rotates around the sun and carries resources that meet the needs for life. I looked out to the ocean and imagined the entire world under those waters. I then looked down the side of the rock and watched how the water rushed gracefully but with great force into all of the cracks of the little rocks below. I thought to myself, “that is truly beautiful.” I then thought to myself, “Wow. God made these rocks and this water to do that because He knew that I would find it beautiful.” What a comforting thought. What an intimate God. I then went through all of the things that I specifically find beautiful amidst nature. What an intimate God, that He would create all of these things so that souls could connect with them and adore them.
I glanced at my book. Not only did God create beautiful oceans, planets, animals, and stars. But minds that can take a tree and turn it into paper, bind it together, all to become an object that can be read and understood and connected to by the human mind, even deeper, the soul. And the words have been formed by a mind with the capacity to take concepts to new levels, all so others can be taken to new depths.
I then looked over at my sister reading on a rock nearby. A soul that I love and find shockingly beautiful. To think of the deep connection I have towards nature and then to look over at this very soul that has my heart, and the tons of others that I have intimate care for, I couldn’t help but cry. Cry out thanks to God and over the realization that God has placed everything exactly where it is for deep, deep purpose. So that He can be a reality. So that we can see how He is alive and living all around us desiring for our souls to be aligned. Crying out that we will see what all of this is pointing to.
I then look down at a crab who doesn’t worry about what he is going to eat. He doesn’t get anxious and stressed about when the sun is going to.. probably scorch him. He probably should get a little stressed, maybe go in the shade so his life can be a little longer.. but that isn’t the point. The crab is who he is. He uses his abilities for their purposes. He does exactly what he was made to do. I look at his complexities, the claws he has been given and the ability to move and jump. And then my eyes shift towards my own hands. They are incredible. The way skin encloses so perfectly all of our organs and bones, how it can be broken and cut but it will not tear too easily. I have the ability to run, jump, climb, and handstand without a scratch. How incredible. Oh, what would my life be like if I was like this crab doing exactly as I was made to do! How often have these hands in front of me been the tools to waste time. My hands are limbs connected to a heart that has worried days away. That is where this crab and I are different. I have a soul, a soul that actually very much so longs to be free like this crab but has many difficulties to battle before that freedom can be all I know.
These difficulties are sin. The very nature we are born into with but thankfully not the nature we have been created to have.
God, in His grace, in His bleeding, jealous love for us, lets us sit on rocks pondering the universe, realizing His thread of glory through it all. And as we realize it, we step away from our old nature and into the new, new life.
Find a place and bask in God’s great glory. It is displayed everywhere you look. Whether it is the tree you climb, the feet you walk on, the threads in your sweater, your mother, your sister, your dog. Everything has a purpose, everything points to the One. The One who longs to romance you, who created the seas with you in mind. The One who deeply knows you and therefore deeply loves you.
And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”Isaiah 6:3
Annie Hindin teaches Kindergarten at our school in Mexico, and this is her second year serving with GEM. She has the God-given gift of extending love and understanding to every person she encounters, which makes her quite the teacher! If you’d like to read more of Annie’s pieces, you can do so on her personal blog.
Oaxaca Teacher Strikes: The Simple Truth
Oh, Oaxaca…an amazing state, with amazing people…but also with so many problems. Oaxacans are known for their fighting spirit and passion. Some of Mexico’s greatest heroes have come from Oaxaca….most notable being the revered President Benito Juarez. Right now, the only news coming from this incredible place is about the militant teachers marching on the streets instead of teaching in their classrooms. Teachers are on strike in Oaxaca, Mexico….again.
It’s happened at some point every year, for the last 30 years. The radical teachers union, named CNTE, has mobilized itself this year in protest of educational reforms that were passed 3 years ago. It seems the teachers are most interested in having performance evaluations repealed. To pressure the government, the CNTE has set up dozens of blockades around the southern states, shutting down commercial traffic on major highways. As a result, businesses are losing money, tourism has essentially stopped, and everyone is running out of basic supplies. In Puerto Escondido, the local gas stations were closed for two weeks. The teachers have also taken over the main square, named the Zocalo, in Oaxaca City.
The government has been in talks with the CNTE, but no progress has been made on the main sticking points. Sadly the protests have turned violent. Two weeks ago 8 protesters were killed and dozens of police and protesters were injured when the police tried to break up a blockade.
As the violence has started to make international news, we’ve been flooded with emails and calls. Are you safe? Do you have gas? Is it safe to travel there? Are the roads closed? All very good questions.
When you talk to people here, most diplomatically claim, “It’s a complex” issue.” In some ways, that’s true. It is complex. There is a lot of history, a lot of stories and lots of different components to the issue. But at the same time, it’s also very simple. At its core, the violence, closed schools and roads aren’t really about teacher tests or abuses by the government. It’s about sin. It’s about pride that pollutes our minds and hearts and convinces us we deserve better than what we got.
It is Satan, the great deceiver and liar, who wants this to be a complicated messy issue. But when the violence stops, the accusations and threats cease, and the teachers go home, what is left is the core simplicity of the issue. It will all be repeated…as it has every year for the last 30 years…if the rebel heart isn’t surrendered to Jesus.
From the outside, for those getting their info from news reports, it probably looks really dark here. Violence, unrest, danger, and darkness – but the truth is that the Son is still shining! The teacher protests and unrest have opened new doors for the gospel and God will use this to glorify Himself. GEM moved into Puerto Escondido and opened a school with the hope of serving the community and building bridges for the gospel. When we came here 3 years ago, the teachers were protesting. Our office was flooded with people, mostly non-Christians, who were desperate for their children to receive an education. Many of those kids have become a part of our school ministry and have heard the gospel taught each day in our classrooms. Now, 3 years later, we are again flooded by parents desperate for help. From the outside, it may look like sin and evil has won the day, but the reality is different. God is pulling people to our ministry and ultimately to himself, and he’s allowing the sin of others to be the driving force. No matter how out of control it may appear to be or how dark the situation, God is always in control and the gospel is always advancing!
Pray for our state and the people here who are impacted by the strikes. Pray that blind eyes will be opened to where the true rebellion occurs and that many will surrender their lives to Jesus. Pray also for GEM as we serve those around us and try to shine the love of Jesus in everything we do.
– Casey Herring, Founder of GEM
Proverbs 16:9 | Amelia to Mexico
All In Mexican Time
“All in due time” is a phrase that I have never quite understood. My personality is one that has always leaned towards the Martha side of that famous Bible story. The one where she forgets that her relationship with Jesus and others is more important than the task. For me it has always been, after dinner, let’s get the dishes finished before enjoying dessert. After school, let’s get the homework finished so that the rest of the night is free. A teacher would talk about a project weeks in advance, and yes, I was that student who would start the assignment that night. Now this inner motivation has certainly been very useful throughout my life. It’s helped me accomplish 50 milers, a teaching license, and move a thousand miles away from home. But there is another side. A part of me that struggles to choose others instead of tasks. To place things of eternal value over things of this world. To best explain this newfound epiphany, I am going to tell a story. As my student Priscila says, “Miss Quigg, you have a story for everything!” So grab some tacos and take a moment to catch a glimpse of life in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
“Moving…Mexican style”
If anyone has ever moved houses, you know the task can seem daunting. The endless boxes and hours of packing and then unpacking is not for the faint of heart. Moving in Mexico is an even more… unsettling process. Mostly due to the fact that creatures are found under any pile that hasn’t been touched in a while. The “blue house girls” (3 of my fellow teachers) were excitedly moving to a new casa! And the day of labor had arrived. Like any good friend (who was bribed with a free smoothie) I offered to lend a hand (or two). The boxes were quickly packed, two trips to the new house, a quick run to the plastic store, burritos for lunch, a few tears as an old country song made us reminisce, and sweeping, dusting, and mopping the old house…all in less than 4 hours. Three Americans and one Canadian sure knew how to get the job done! We even had time to watch the boy’s soccer game that afternoon.
Now fast forward a few weeks. I was asked to go and help a Mexican family complete the same process of moving. The first load was delivered and then we returned to the house. I watched in bewilderment (although I tried not to show it) as everyone sat down and one of the women went to go buy some drinks (Coke of course!). Talking and laughing ensued, taking pictures of the men wearing a funny hat, all while Grandpa fell asleep in the rocker. Before moving to Mexico I was encouraged to view everything with the idea that it is just different, not weird or strange…just different. But this. Resting while there was much work to be done. This was…new. Everyone eventually got moving again and a second load was unpacked. While at the house I heard a familiar voice calling, “Quigg!” I looked over and one of the girls from the soccer team lived right next door. We talked and while she was telling me about her hurt ankle I began to forget about the task, forget about the loads left to complete, and just enjoy. Enjoy conversation. Enjoy talking with a person who became more important than what I was doing. And then the day didn’t seem so different after all. We went to pick up a stove and I enjoyed eating watermelon and holding a baby. We went to get some drinks, and I enjoyed sitting in the shade and trying to understand a 4-year-old’s Spanish. While sitting in the truck, driving back and forth, I began to understand Mary a little bit more. That people and their stories are more important than how fast it takes to complete a task. That I guess God was right after all (imagine that) when he told Martha it was more important to just listen. So, I just want to encourage you. Slow down. Look someone in the eyes and truly care about their story. And understand that it will all work out. All in Mexican time.
Sarah Quigg graduated from Liberty University in 2015 with a B.S. in Special Education. She loves running and growing closer to God while exploring His creation! We are so happy to have her on the team, teaching 5th grade.
God’s Faithfulness Through GEM
One of the most incredible attributes of God is that he is never not faithful. Really. He is constant, an ever assured rock where we as believers are founded. God is never not faithful to be loving, to be gracious, to set his purpose into place, and to reveal his glory. He even is faithful to use us for his divine purpose. Humans. He wants us to be vessels for him. I mean, a God that is so perfect, choosing sinners to further his kingdom? Kinda crazy. To add to the crazy, when we are in constant relationship with him, we become more like him. When we choose to follow his path of righteousness, we too can become more faithful to what he commands. It’s a beautiful thing that he calls us to be divine, to be holy like him. I have never been more reminded of his faithfulness, his steadfastness, than when I visited Puerto Escondido.
Being given the opportunity to know the staff and students at Manantial is one that I keep close to my heart. The Lord has been so faithful to plan the steps of each staff member of this precious school. The students see glimpses of Jesus every day because of what they see in their teachers. As soon as you step through the white gate into the school, the atmosphere is so spirit filled. I can’t describe to you the encouragement and joy and peace that anyone can feel in that place. I can only attribute it to faith. The labor that staff members have put into this school has definitely not gone in vain. God is using education, a privilege that some of these children might not have if it weren’t for GEM, to reveal himself. These children are such sweet blessings. Each one so unique, bringing their own talents to make this school even more special. I really cannot speak enough words to say just how much Manantial is doing and how faithful God has been to make the school flourish. Seriously. Pray for the school, sponsor a child, visit Puerto (also because tacos and the beach!), serve alongside GEM, and be faithful to see God’s story played out in this beautiful place.
“But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:57-59
Sara Smith has volunteered with GEM in Puerto twice, and she is a treasured part of our support team!
MARRIAGE, MEXICO, AND MINEFIELDS: THE JOY OF FOLLOWING JESUS INTO THE UNKNOWN
“God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is.” – A.W. Tozer
CHANGE: WRESTLING WITH THE UNKNOWN
If there is one thing in my life that I consistently struggle with, it’s changed.
Six years ago, I moved away from my family in south Georgia for college in Virginia. At the time I was 21 years old. I had never been away from my family for more than 2 months. Moving away was incredibly frightening. In my case, change meant moving 8 hours away from friends that I had invested in over 21 years of my life. Change meant a lot of new, uncertain things in my life. For a person used to safety and comfort, this was very difficult. It meant that I was moving into a new setting where I was the outsider, the new kid. Yet, I knew God was leading me away from where I had been for 21 years to grow and live independently from my family. What I didn’t know at the time was that change was soon to become the mantra of my life. I had no idea that God was going to use the thing I hated the most to shape and refine me, day-by-day, moment-by-moment.
Tim Chester says, “Change is a lifelong, daily struggle that will end with an eternal harvest of holiness.”
God uses change in our lives, good and bad, to refine us and shape us into the image of Jesus, bringing us into fuller joy.
REDEEMING THE UNKNOWN
In my own life, God has used change in several ways to shape and refine me. In college, I was forced to stand on my own. I was taught through the unknown transition into adulthood that God can be trusted in all circumstances. Because of my experiences in college I came to understand the church with deeper clarity and conviction. I learned that God does not only intend for us to show up once a week to a building to hear his word preached but that the church is his body – a people redeemed by Jesus sent into the world to be his witnesses. I learned that the church isn’t a place at all – it’s a people. I learned that God calls me to worship every single day, not just on Sundays. I learned that the church is this messy, broken, redeemed, beautiful, healed people trying to live in light of the truth and that we have been declared righteous by God through faith in Jesus.
God was also revealing to me that discipleship was much more than just one on one meeting or a bible study. Rather, discipleship is submitting all of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus. Jeff Vanderstelt writes,
“Discipleship—learning to follow, trust, and obey Jesus in the everyday stuff of life—requires submitting to and obeying God’s Word in three key environments: life on life, where our lives are visible and accessible to one another; life in community, where more than one person is developing another; and life on mission, where we experience making disciples and, while doing so, come to realize how much we need God’s power.”
Ultimately God used my time in Lynchburg to grow me and help me to see the beauty of who Jesus is and who He is making me to be. I have found Proverbs 16:9 to be fittingly and sometimes frustratingly true – “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
MARRIAGE
Recently, another life change occurred: I married my beautiful wife, Kristen. Marriage, more than anything else, has already been one of the most difficult, joyful, sanctifying realities in my life.
God’s grace is at work, transforming us as we navigate these recent changes together.
Marriage is messy. My wife sees my life for what it is and I see the same in her. This is what makes it so amazing! God is in the works of changing us—through marriage—to His likeness.
Paul Tripp reminds us that God uses spouses as tools of change.
“When your ears hear and your eyes see the sin, weakness, or failure of your husband or wife, it is never an accident; it is always grace. God loves your spouse, and he is committed to transforming him or her by his grace, and he has chosen you to be one of his regular tools of change.”
God is redeeming the difficulties in marriage to transform us. He is using our transition into marriage as a means of changing us. He is using the sin, brokenness, selfishness, and mess as tools of change for the sake of His name.
MEXICO
When Kristen and I were dating, we often dreamed of what our future would look like, where we would be, and who we would be serving. We had plans to settle in Virginia (quite comfortably) for a season before we would eventually move to Portland, Oregon to be a part of a church planting team for the sake of Jesus’ name being made known in the Pacific Northwest. However, God had different plans. Again, Proverbs 16:9,
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
My wife was recently attending a local fair for teaching jobs when one particular school seemed to stand out. This school is called Centro Educativo el Manantial (CEM). This is not your normal, American public school. This is an English immersion school that is found in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. It was started by an organization called Global Education Ministries. When Kristen first told me about this, I remember thinking, “there is no way we are moving to Mexico!” Why would I want to go to Mexico? We already had a great plan! We had a safe plan. We had a comfortable plan. We had a plan that required minimal change. We would stay put for a couple of years and then move to Portland.
So we prayed. And prayed. And we sought wise council and deliberated with friends. Finally, after much consideration, wisdom, and prayer, we can say with confidence that the Lord is leading us to follow Him to a country neither of us knows, in an area we are unfamiliar with, and in a way we never could have expected. Six months after being married, we are about to embark on the biggest adventure of our lives. Here is what we are learning – God calls us into unfamiliar situations that require us to obey and trust in His faithfulness.In light of all of this, we have committed to two years in Puerto Escondido, Mexico for the Glory of His Name! We are very excited about how the Lord will use this in our lives to grow us, mold us, draw us closer to Him. We are equally excited to see how He uses us to lift up the name of Jesus in Mexico!
PURSUING JESUS IN THE MINEFIELDS OF CHANGE
If there was going to be anything I’ve learned through all these changes it is this: Jesus is worthy of all our time, possessions, decisions, and personal desires. Psalm 103:2-5 gives us a beautiful picture of our God and who He is to us.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Nothing else in this world will give the satisfaction that Jesus offers. He is good and there is no one like Him. We were created by and for Him. It doesn’t matter if you are living in the states or in another country, God desires that you seek him with your whole heart. He has given his church a command: to make disciples of all nations. Therefore, all of us have a mission and that mission is to love and serve your neighbors, co-workers, classmates, roommates, spouses, and those you encounter on a daily basis. That mission may lead us into uncomfortable situations and deep into the unknown, but there is so much joy in following Him. Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” If Jesus, in joy, endured the cross, how much more can we, with joy, seek Him and follow Him wherever he leads us? He is our joy, our treasure, our hope.
There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to moving to Mexico. Where are we going to live? How are we going to raise enough money? What are we going to do with all of our stuff? It can be overwhelming thinking about all of these logistics, but there is beauty in following Jesus into these unknowns.
The less we know about our specific plans, the more we will be able to trust in God’s promises to keep and guide us. We have nothing to hold onto except for Jesus. What a joy it is to trust in His promises to take care of us!
God’s word tells us to follow Him regardless of the cost. Following Jesus will most likely take us through minefields of change. This means, we never know when some kind of change will happen in our life. We will continue to encounter change — sometimes to the extent to moving to another country. This will be a constant reality for the rest of our lives. The good news is – we can walk through minefields of change with an understanding that God is worthy of our trust. His name is worthy of our lives, regardless of the cost.
Daniel graduated from Liberty University with a B.S. in Communication (2011) and a Master’s of Divinity in Evangelism and Church Planting (2014). He will be serving as the Director of Communication for GEM. Kristen graduated in May 2016 with a B.S. in Elementary Education and will serve as the 4th-grade teacher at the Manantial School. They enjoy playing sports, eating good food with friends, and exploring with their wonderdog, Nala. Above all, they desire to make disciples by making Jesus known in Puerto and around the world. To read more posts on Daniel’s personal blog, click here.
The Month of May: Hotter Than Africa
My siblings and I always joked on the hottest summer days that it felt “hotter than Africa” outside. Africa was the hottest place we could think of and what place on earth could possibly hotter than Africa? Well, after 3 years of living in Puerto Escondido, I have determined that the month of May in Mexico is indeed, hotter than Africa.
Everyone knows that Mexico is a hot place. It is a tourist destination to millions every year and is known for its beautiful beaches, consistently sunny weather and giant cruise port cities. I grew up in hot and humid North Carolina. The heat was no stranger to me before moving here. However, I had never in my life experienced Mexican heat outside of the vacation bubble, where the breeze off the ocean is strong, the pool is close by and your room is air conditioned.
The dictionary defines heat in a couple of different ways: (1) the state of a body perceived as having or generating a relatively high degree of warmth; (2) the condition or quality of being hot; and (3) the degree of hotness, temperature. I am not sure which definition I agree with or if any of them define the type of heat I am currently drowning in as I write this.
Most of the year is bearable when it comes to the hot and humid weather. The nights cool off which lead to cooler mornings and sometimes there is a nice breeze to help you forget about how hot you are. The month of May brings a heat that is so fierce that it consumes you. All 365 days of the year here carry almost the exact same weather. I love a good change of seasons. There is no better feeling than those first cool fall days in October or flowers blooming in April with the promise of warmer weather. Puerto only permits one type of weather: 90 degrees and sunny. Everyday. All year. In December. Sometimes, in the middle of the night.
The month of May is dreaded by many as it approaches and hated by all once it is here. The air is heavier than ever has we wait for that first rain to fall to kick off a few months of rainy afternoons that give a much-needed break from the heat. The sun hits your skin and makes you feel like you’re living in an oven. Your sweat beads down your forehead, soaks any clothing that is remotely touching your skin and cascades down your legs like a waterfall.
There is not air conditioning to retreat to, the waves are typically huge this time of year, which limits your access to the water, and life goes on as usual. We have eaten out more than ever to avoid cooking over the stove and I have taken more showers than I thought humanly possible. I have been caught with my head stuck in the freezer more times than I would like to admit. My poor students sweat through their uniforms while solving multiplication problems at 9:00am and if you don’t have more than one fan pointed directly at you then you need to buy another fan. Also, who knew adults could get heat rash! I thought that heat rash was only for little kids until I moved here and it started showing up all over my body around this time of year.
I am fairly positive there is no cure for the physical pain and discomfort the month of May brings upon us here in Puerto. So, until the rain comes you will find me in front of a fan, with my head in the freezer, showering at 3am and praying those clouds will make an appearance over the mountain tops to drop the rain we have patiently been waiting for since it left us last October.
Sarah Hindin is from Charlotte, NC, where her wonderful family still resides. This is Sarah’s 3rd year serving with GEM in Puerto Escondido. She is an organizational wizard and her students love her more than anything! If you’d like to sponsor Sarah financially or via prayer, you can find her contact info here.