Guatemala Trip - One Week Later

These are the people who changed the world,
just by showing up... 

It's been a week now, since we came home from Guatemala. All of our clothes have been washed and put away. We are back to our normal routines. The sharp edges of our memories are beginning to dull a little. Dull, perhaps, but still ever present. I can tell you this - we are changed. We will never be the same again. The trip - the country - will always be with us.

It's hard to sort out what had the most impact on me. Knowing how much need there is for the women's shelter where we painted? Thinking about young people learning God's word in the classrooms we (literally) laid the foundation for? The persistent, intense faith of the pastors and congregants we met? The beauty of the land and people? The hearts of our host family?

In the end, I think that what sticks with me the most - beyond even all of these memories and experiences - is the quiet whisper from God saying, "keep showing up."

Many years ago I found myself in a strange and intimidating place, facing a task that was far beyond my abilities, the outcome of which was of vital importance to many people. (Sound familiar?) I found favor there and succeeded - not because of anything special about me, but because God was faithful since I obeyed him and showed up. He made very real to me in that experience that the world is run by the people who show up.

He made the same thing real to me in a new and deeper way again when we were in Guatemala.

In the cities and villages we were in, it was very clear that someone is always running the show. Someone is showing up. In some places, the forces showing up were things like poverty, ignorance, hopelessness, greed, corruption, fear. In other places, though, it was people like you and me who showed up. Good people. People with the love of Christ to share. People without any particular skills or talents, except for a willingness to be God's hands and feet, and to speak his words. We show up. He does the rest. It's a powerful partnership, and one that we shouldn't take for granted.

We shouldn't take it for granted in places like Guatemala, where our very presence (or prayers, or financial support...) can be the thing that changes hearts, lives, and eternities. We shouldn't take it for granted in our communities, where we might just be the difference between hope and helplessness for our neighbors and our friends. We shouldn't take it for granted in our workplaces and schools, where we have the chance to form relationships and change lives for the better. We shouldn't take it for granted in our families - the most intimate and powerful of all institutions God created on earth. We shouldn't ever take for granted - no matter where we are, or who we are - that our willingness to show up in our everyday lives is meaningful. It is powerful. It is Godly, and blessed, and will be richly rewarded.

Someday I'd love to return to Guatemala. I will always treasure the time I had there, pray for the people we met, and I hope we can visit again soon. Until then, though, I'm going to be sure that I'm showing up in the here and now, where I live, with the people God has put in my life today. I can't encourage you strongly enough to do the same. After all - someone's going to show up and run the world you live in. Don't you think it'd better be God, through your willing presence?