God is in this City

Honduras. Day 1.

It was a long day shuttling through the airports of Memphis and Houston and then, finally, Tegucigalpa. It was pretty cool to do some international travel on my own. It was a good experience. Once I got to gate E23 at Houston for the 9:30 to Tegucigalpa, I sat alone in the middle of a number of various groups that were obviously traveling to the city for mission efforts. One man that I spoke to, a truck driver from Texas, said that he was going to assist his wife, a nurse, and a friend of his, a doctor, in a medical mission. He had no idea where they were going yet, or what all they would be doing. But he trusted that God was going to lead them wherever they needed to go. And when we parted ways, he blessed me and told me that he believed God would guide me as well.

A truck driver on a medical mission to a third world country. God has plans for all of us.

Once I got through customs and "claimed my luggage" I met up with Terri Tindall and we went and grabbed a bite to eat upstairs at the airport. I got to see Josue, and talked to him some about married life and children and stuff like that. One of the first things that he said to me was, "Make sure that people from your group bring candy. My kid is turning 2 this September." He wanted candy for his kid's birthday. I saw Jesus in Josue looking for some bit of joy that he could bring to his child's face.

I rode around the capital with Terri for a while, soaking up every inch of the gorgeous scenery that I had so desperately missed, and she told me all about the great plans that are coming together for this summer. She told me about a women's center that we are building to teach women and provide for them in the Nuevo Oriental community, a church we're building in the Villa Nueva Sector Ocho area, and some plans that the AIMers (Adventures in Missions) are putting together too. As I listened to a seemingly endless list of awesome ministry opportunities, and gazed off into the mountains, and continued to ride to Nuevo Oriental, I felt the fact that: even though I was nearly 2000 miles away from "my life," and in this new place where I will be living for over two months, I have come so far and God is still here. God is still present. God is still active.

God is in this city.

And I saw Him everywhere I went. From the one-legged man hobbling around in the highway, knocking on car windows and asking people to spare some change, to the children digging through trash cans in hopes of finding something worth their trouble, to just getting to see Milton and Louis and Marc, hardworking men of God and integrity, again, I realized that you can just never get away from God. He is too big to be kept out of even the farthest reaches of the earth. And when I met the 6 AIM group members, who I will be living with this summer, it was so evident that God has been with them, all of the different places they've come from, and is with them here. In this city.

It's been a great first day. And it looks like God's got a lot in store. I am ready to see where He takes me this summer. I am ready to see how He changes me this summer.

I am ready.