I am learning to share my heart and give my heart to God.

Jesus...

about a month ago I had a thought about Jesus that I wrote down somewhere and I haven't had the chance to write it out in the blog until now. the thought was...

"Jesus didn't come to have huge statues built of him....or for that matter to have pictures of what people thought he looked like posted of him posing in one way or another."

we were going through the outskirts of Lima when I saw a huge statue of Jesus in the distance. that is where the thought began.

in Paul's letter to the Philippians he writes that Jesus humbled himself completely, that while he was God he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. he did not come for power, or to show his ability being God but for something else...to serve and share the Truth, to share hope, faith, and love. this was revealed throughout his life serving and teaching and when he humbled himself to death.

pictures of Jesus are everywhere in Lima. they're in taxis, on random walls, and in shops and restaurants sometimes with the opposite wall posted with a picture of a half naked woman. (and I ask the question "why is he there? is there any real significance except to have a picture of him on the wall? is he just good luck?")

Jesus came to proclaim a message. he came to begin a kingdom where people love each other, even their enemies, where difference is welcome, where personal gain is placed behind encouraging and serving each other.

He came that people might know who Created them and that they might draw closer to Him and become one community driven by His great love and compassion.

Jesus is not a poster-boy. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

is Jesus sitting on the wall, some picture, or do we allow his message to become a real part of our lives?

what is important is what is in our hearts, not what is on the wall.

a portrait of ministry

yesterday i saw a mother teaching her daughter to ride a bike. she fell a lot. sometimes when her daughter fell off she would pout and leave frustrated at her failure, but her mother would be patient and continue to encourage her, believing in her ability to ride the bike. then the girl would return and try again. sometimes she was hurt when she fell, but still her mother encouraged, and the girl would try again.

the girl doesn't know what it is like yet to ride a bike, to feel the freedom of wind rushing past her. she doesn't even know yet if she can really do it. but her mother believes and knows.

would she keep trying if she did not have the support of her mother?

the Word Made Flesh staff here is a continuous encouragement for the boys and girls who live in the street, someone who believes in them. the boys have yet to believe that they can get more out of life, that they can ride the bike and get out of their place in the street. sometimes they try, and they may fall back to the streets, but that's not the end. we will be patient and continue to encourage them to try again. it is hard for them to believe when all they hear is that they are "piranhas" and bad kids by the public, the news, the police, etc.

so we will continue to pray for Richard and the others. it's not easy to try to ride the bike with so many obstacles.

think about it...if you were handed a poor deck of cards in life (lack of knowledge, of how to live life, of how to express yourself in a healthy way, of how to trust people, etc.) and had no support and encouragement (more so the opposite), how motivated would you be to try for greater things? we all need support and encouragement to live.

we are the family, the support for the youth who do not have any.

it's not easy. it takes time. it takes prayer. patience. love.

these were my thoughts yesterday as i sat in a park.
i hope you are blessed by these words.