Mi casa su casa!

Always be eager to practice hospitality.  Romans 12:13 (NLT)

Hospitality seems to come naturally for the Mayan villagers.  They are grateful people who desired to show their appreciation for our time and our gifts.  It was one of those times when you set out to bless someone and the very opposite happens… they end up blessing you.

In the village of Gavilanes, a family (a pastor and his wife) invited us into their home for a meal.  Their home was typical:  stick walls, thatch roof and dirt floors.  No electricity and no plumbing.  They didn’t worry over how their home looked.  They just wanted to enjoy time with us.

Here are our hosts:

And their home:

And their kitchen:

They prepared (over a fire) and served salbutes: corn tortillas with chicken, cabbage, tomatoes, red onion and a light salsa seasoning ~ yummy!  It was a big sacrifice for them to prepare such a meal.

And I am sure they used their best chicken (it was free range and cage free as their chickens had full access to their yard).

Our hosts smiled with delight when we said:  La comida es muy deliciosa, which translates, the food is very delicious ~ I worked very hard to learn that sentence!

The whole experience made me think twice about the times I’ve had guests over and how I stress over my house being “picked up and tidy” and having things “just right.”  These concerns were just not there with our Mayan friends.  They were 100% about serving us, and enjoying our company… wow!

It was a wonderful time of fellowship!

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* First and foremost, don’t forget that the midweek service continues tonight—”The Bait of Satan.” The service begins at 6:30 in the main auditorium.

Here is part 2 of the 10 part Mayan Mission’s Take Aways.

Courtesy of my favorite blogger, Michelle Singleton.

One of my favorite girls who was very excited over herdulce (candy).

Take-Away #2

The first village we visited was in Felipe Carillo Puerta and the beautiful Mayan people.

As I struggled to communicate through the language barrier, I was reminded that each face had a name. And each name had a story. God has not forgotten these people. He will not forget any of us.

Isaiah 49:15-16(NLT) I will notforget you. See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

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* First and foremost, don’t forget that the midweek service continues tonight—”The Bait of Satan.” The service begins at 6:30 in the main auditorium.

If this is part 4 then there must be 3 earlier parts, right?

Right.

Click here, here and here for those.

Many years ago there was a couple who came to Southbrook Church for about a year. They attended sporadically—alternating between SCC and another local church they liked. They never brought a lost friend, co-worker, neighbor or family member to Southbrook, never joined a lifegroup, never…

Well, you get the idea.

But one day the gentlemen asked me if we could support them to the tune of about $5,000 as they traveled to Europe to see if they might dig the idea of being missionaries ‘over there.’

Huh?

My initial reaction was. ‘Are you kidding?’

Nope, dead serious.

A one month European vacation—Chevey Chase style—in order to, you know, ‘check it out.’

My answer?

You blog readers are pretty slick, I bet you can guess.

But the other church did support them—so they went—for a month.

When they returned, they announced that missions overseas was not for them.

End of story.

The conclusion came as no surprise to me. If you aren’t witnessing to those in your own community what makes you think you’ll do so overseas? There’s no magical field you pass through somewhere over the Atlantic with missionary pixie dust that will transform your heart into a heart for the lost. Only God can do that. And He does it at home first.

EVERY time.

You might have noticed that Southbrook has made a MARK on the lost in our communities. Thousands have bent the knee to Jesus Christ in our Jerusalems. So years ago we moved the mission out a bit farther—to Judea (New York inner city, Tampa inner city) and then to Samaria (Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Hondourus, Columbia, etc.) and more recently we’ve sent full time missionaries and short term teams to places like Germany and Papau New guinea (what some would call, ‘the ends of the earth).

Why are we doing this?

Because Jesus loves people. He gave His life for the lost. His desire is that all would come to the a saving knowledge of Him. But He uses flawed people to get the message out. And what happens if those messengers are not only flawed but also cold

Then the message does not go out. The church makes no mark on the community and no mark on the world, and probably…

No real impact at all.

So there’s a choice to be made—a choice for every believer and a choice for every church.

You want to make an impact or not?

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