Today we took a break from building the parsonage (the church home for a pastor), we picked up all our Honduran friends from our partner churchs and we went to the beach! It was beautiful!
I would be remiss though if I wasn’t honest about how I felt about taking a rest day. Trevor and the boys are at home celebrating 4th of July and I’m sitting on a beach in Honduras. It felt wrong and selfish and I felt a lot of guilt this morning. So during breakfast I asked the Lord to help me see with His eyes and not my own. I felt a sense of peace and a promise that there would be good work done today. He also reminded me that even Jesus needed rest on a regular basis. If you’re like me and you need to read the details, this site has a list of the different types of rest Jesus pursued along with their Bible verses. https://theholisticambassadors.com/8-examples-of-rest-from-jesus/
We later found out that of the 12 Honduran friends that went with us, only a couple had ever been to the beach before!! For many of them, it’s a long commute to the beach and they do not have stable or safe transportation for their families. Many Hondurans drive motorcycles/dirt bikes and they pile their whole family on it. We’ve seen three adults and a child on a single motorcycle, or one adult with three little kids or even a young teenager with three small kids. But that is their normal. So a trip to a resort to spend time on the beach is out of reach for many of them.
While we were there, we enjoyed virgin beach drinks, we played “beach golf” on the shore (Rob made up the game with tennis balls and a frisbee), and we enjoyed lunch together by the pool. From the mouth of one of our pastor partners, “my family would never have had the opportunity to do come to a resort like this, so thank you!” Another pastor with us is 72 years old and he experienced so many firsts when is this week! He saw the beach, wore shorts, and participated in the week long journey with us. He transformed from a stoic man to a funny and witty child at heart right in front of our eyes! His words of gratitude tonight brought many to tears.
After hearing from the pastors and how much this beach trip meant to them, the cloudy lens over my eyes were wiped clear. I was seeing God’s plan live in action. He reminded me that discipleship isn’t about hard labor, it’s about loving God and loving others. Loving people comes in all forms and today, love was shown by a simple gesture to bring them to the beach to have some fun and give them a rare opportunity to relax.
Today was a really fun day and we are excited to complete our final work day tomorrow. I promise to show you a side by side from the beginning to the end.
Rest is good for the soul.
Even God rested! Your guilt is not from the Lord and praying to ask Him to take it away was the best way to deal with it. You did what we all should do and prayed and remained on course. Reading....watching....believing you are making a difference in their lives and in your own.