It is Saturday morning. On day seven (Friday) we were blessed to enjoy some time in Antigua. Today we will be traveling back to Wisconsin. The first leg of our journey will be from the Bible seminary campus we stayed at the last two nights.
The bus ride will be at least two hours long to get to the airport. Then we will board the flight to Wisconsin. After arriving in Chicago we have another long bus ride to the Memorial Baptist Church property in Verona Wisconsin.
There are three things that stand out from this week. The first is the beauty of the land of Guatemala. Pictures cannot capture the majesty and beauty of this country. However I did try to capture some of the landscapes and flowers we saw.
The second thing that stands out to me is the team and those who sacrificed time and treasure to serve. The members of the local church did an incredible amount of work. Although we worked hard as well I suspect they worked harder and sacrificed more. Their care for us and their dedication to abound in the work of the Lord was a joy-filled servant hood.
Some of the special workers included Pastor Pedro, his wife Mary, their children Joseph, Ashley, and Chelsey. It also included Dr. Norma, Gloria, Flori, Lizzy, Gabby (Gabriella) and Anna. I’m probably forgetting some names but God remembers their labor of love and knows their names.
As an aside, I’m thankful that I could use Google Translate on this journey. I used it for conversations like the one I had with our bus driver at dinner last night. Victor and I had a good chat.
The third thing that comes to mind is regarding labor that lasts. Many of the projects I did during my career in Information Technology are no longer used. The big mainframe computers are scrap, the processes and programs have been replaced, and thousands of pages of documentation are now worthless.
But the work that was done this week, by God’s grace and provision will last. He allowed each of us to lay up treasure in heaven.
Jesus said we should lay up treasure in heaven because that treasure will last. Moths won’t destroy it. Rust can’t ruin it. Sinners cannot steal it.
He reminds us that where we put our treasure will redirect our thoughts, purposes, priorities and loves. see Matthew 6:19-21
In the end we don’t get the praise or credit for our work during this past week. God gave us everything we needed at just the right times. The incredible thing is that we don’t lose anything by sacrificing. We gained in even ways we cannot imagine.
He deserves the recognition, gratitude and the glory. What an amazing God we serve! See John 3:16 to see His great love.
