“While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-50
I am going to be writing a series of blogs for S.L.A.M. Those that know me know that I can’t tell you how many because I don’t know myself. These blogs will focus on the short term mission trips to Grace Mountain and how God moves in different areas such as: Our Guatemalan family, US family, the circumstances of some of the people and a few more. Today we will start with our Guatemalan family.
I am a family guy. I love our big family. I love my wife and two children. I love my parents, three sisters and their families. I love my wife’s family( well, most of them.) I love my church family, even though they don’t all reciprocate that. I love my family of God (even Spencer Bell) scattered all over the world from Michigan to Thailand to Africa and especially Guatemala. The Bible says that there is no Kew nor gentile, save nor free, male nor female in the Kingdom of God. This means that believers are family no matter the gender or skin color or language spoken.
Grace Mountain in Chimaltenango, Guatemala is home to many of my family members. It’s an interesting phenomenon; we don’t have same skin color, don’t speak the same language and don’t think the same. One thing I have learned though is three things are universal: a smile, a hug and the name of Jesus! Just like Jesus said if we are doing the will of the Father then we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Biblically speaking then, I have tons of brothers and sisters in Guatemala and I am thankful for them.
Family life is fickle. One minute you are laughing and one minute you are arguing like me when Pastor Adan wears an LSU shirt. One day everything is fine and the next chaos ensues. One week you have peace and the next Satan attacks. But through it all, you are family. That’s what family does; they walk together through the peaks and the valleys together. Jesus knew there would be storms in our lives so this is one reason He stresses that we are family. We need each other. We were created for community. We were created for family. I need my family in Guatemala and they need us. As Christians, we are not called to go through life alone; we are called to walk together. I am not attempting to stir up a hornets nest but isolationism isn’t biblical. Yes, the church has problems because sinners are in the church but we are forgiven sinners that are commanded to forgive each other and walk together. We can’t pick up our ball and go home when we don’t get our way or get hurt. We need each other.
When I come to Guatemala, I expect Daisy and Delmy’s nachos, and if you haven’t experienced that you are missing out. I expect the Labriel family to play and Sabrina to sing. I expect a Roll Tide from Julio. I expect Johnny and Edgar to work hard and Vernick, Bryan and Hector to drive us and Chino to make things happen. I expect Shadaya to help our medical people. But, if none of that happened, guess what? These people would get no less love from me. Just like when I watch Blue Bloods with Lori, her presence in the same room is all I need. All I need is to be in the presence of my Guatemalan family. I want to be present for them and hope they want to do the same for us. I want to listen to them and pray for them. They have parents battling cancer just like we do. They have marriage issues just like we do. They have spiritual battles just like we do. I want to walk through the peaks and valleys with them. I want to help carry their burdens.
I love my Guatemalan family because they are just that, family. They aren’t people I see twice a year. They aren’t people living in a foreign country. They aren’t people I serve alongside. They are actually all of those things but what trumps all of that is that they are family. Family is one of the reasons the Kingdom of God is so special. Families grow and each time I go to Guatemala our family grows. Our family might be from Holland, Michigan or from Guatemala but every year the family grows. The bigger the family, the more burdens but that also means more burden carriers. Thank God for family.
Joe David Bailey
Shining Light Abroad Ministries 