The Irony of It All

As most of you know...I just returned from an 8-day missions/work trip to Pujilli, Ecuador. During our time there, we worked at a home on the outskirts of Pujilli that has become a boarding school per se for about 30 children from the mountains. We dug a 10x10x6 cistern, demolished and rebuilt a kitchen prep/storage area, demolished and began rebuilding a larger bathroom/shower area. We also spent time building relationships with the students (of whom mostly were in their teens). We also were given some time for tourism.

I wanted to share with you one of the biggest thoughts I had during this trip...

The first thing I noticed when we arrived in Ecuador (besides the excessively long line that took almost 2 hours to go through to be processed by customs/immigration; the begger children in the airport lobby selling gum or the large crowds of Ecuadorians waiting for loved ones who were arriving) was the absolute poverty and amazingly tight housing in the city. All these home so tightly "squished" together - all made of cheaply made cinder blocks and mortar. There was litter everywhere. Everywhere there was paint - it was dirty, chipped or scribbled with graffiti.

Yet - when I looked up, surrounding the entire city were these beautifully majestic mountains and green rolling hills. Thick, lush plants and vegetation spread throughout the countryside.

I was amazed at how all around was the most colorful and beautiful landscape I had ever seen yet at the same time - some of the poorest, colorless life. I was thinking on the irony. These people have been blessed with so much in the way of nature and landscape, yet their personal dwellings seemed so dingy and drab. There was litter on the ground and the streets. They had soooo much, but yet so little.

But then...

We head to the orphanage and the home in Pujilli, they had so little, but it was beautiful. They didn't feel the need to have material things, but to dwell in the beauty of relationship with each other and with God. Though their means were the same as others, they still had so much more. There was something different in those who knew the Lord and felt blessed by what they had than those around who did not - lost in either "religious tradition" or the mystical cults of the mountains. Those who did not have the Lord were seemingly lost in "lack" and dwelling in the "poverty" (physical and spiritual) of their lives.

Isn't it the same here? God provides so much for us - in nature, in life, in friends/family ... yet, we get so lost in what we do or don't have. We look for status and possessions to feel our worth. When we don't have - we live as if we don't have and dwell in our lack or need (or we pull-out the plastic card to give the illusion we "have" when our poverty is so great).

It's a tangible reminder of the Irony of the Gospel - to lose our life is to gain it; to become great we must become small; to humble ourselves and we will be lifted up.

Today I challenge you in your life to look at what you are and what you have and ask the question, "Is God the priority in your life?" When you realize all you have in Him - when you look up - you will be able to see beyond the immediate surroundings / circumstances of your life (which may not look so good) and you will be able to see the BEAUTY of what God has given you - love, family, friendship - LIFE!