Cowboy Boots

Honduras. Day 10.

(This another later-than-the-date recap).

Today I went to work on a house crew in Los Pinos. Most of the other interns and AIMers went to work on the house with us. The house went smoothly. Louis led the crew. No real news about the house.

But I still learned a lot today.

I’ve seen how God has really been working on my heart lately. With the hospital and blind school, He started tearing down walls I had built up. And today, with the kids in Los Pinos (which, for any of you that have been to Los Pinos before, KNOW how amazing the kids are), He really started pealing away to better fill me with His Spirit through

the faces of the children.

Melbe (Karis’ little “boyfriend”). Victor (who sat with me on a break at the work site and we just gazed at the mountains together on the side of a cliff and talked about how beautiful it all was). Esmic (who couldn’t stand to see me without running up and giving me a smile and a hug). Esmic’s little brother Edison. Vanessa. Mirari (who gave me a kiss on the cheek today). Wilma. Carolina. Linda. Wilson. And then the faces of all those I can’t even remember the names of. But they are all God’s precious little children. And I see Jesus in their faces. And yet I know, as I sit here typing this on a nice couch, in a well-lit room with a roof above my head, these precious little ones are hungry, sleeping on dirt floors, and longing for

hope.

But I don’t think that because I am physically blessed I have it altogether. I realized that today when I was trying to walk down a really steep cliff in Los Pinos. I started making my way down when a little girl came up beside me and grabbed my hand. It’s not unusual for random kids to want to hold your hand and walk with you in Honduras, so I was fine with that. I thought she just wanted to be with me as I walked. But she was wanting me to be with her. She started leading the way down the cliff. And every time my footing was a little unsure, she’d look back at me and tighten her grip on my hand. And she never let go until we reached the bottom. Because I thought I was going to be blessing her. But she was the one blessing me.

And you can make your own connections and applications about that one.

I also really bonded with Karis and Nolan today. Me and Karis had a good long conversation about a lot of different stuff, and a lot of it was very spiritual, and about God calling us to different things throughout our lives. But at one point, Karis stopped and asked if the lady we were building the house for might want some shoes (others from the group were organizing a clothing give-away at the church down the road). So we asked her if she’d like some, she of course said yes, and we set off for the church. When we got there, there weren’t exactly “shoes,” per se. Someone had just brought an enormous box full of... cowboy boots? But Karis took the time to look through every set of cowboy boots until she found the ones that were the right size and looked just the absolute best for this lady (they were black with pink embroidery and silver caps on the toes. I know what you’re thinking already: “Hot”). And then we started walking back and met the lady on the road. When Karis unzipped her backpack and brought out the boots, I don’t think I have ever seen a lady so excited. She beamed. And she took the shoes and thanked Karis, and hugged the boots, and took them home with her. At devo tonight, I told everyone that I saw Jesus in Karis for that today.

I went with Marc to the work site of the new church building in Sector Ocho this afternoon. I played with some kids there, and then stuck around even after all of the others had left (only Gringo on the work site. Oh yeah, I’m cool). Then I road back with my new best buddy, Milton Estrada, and all of my friends from the Oriente work site. It was hilarious. We were all piled in the Galloper, and they had the Honduran reggaeton music bumpin’, and they were all singing along and I was just laughing my head off at them. When we dropped them off, me and Milton rode back to Julio’s house together. We actually had a serious conversation about dating and life and all that stuff. It was very “of God.”

Then that night we got back to Santa Ana, and me and Nolan and Karis stayed up until 2 in the morning talking. It was a ton of fun; we laughed all night, and had a great time. I don’t think I could be with a better group of friends.

God is good. All the time.

And all the time, God is good.