Julie Rushton

So, here we are back in our own homes. I've been lucky enough to have had a lot a time to sit and think since returning. I've mulled over the things that we did and saw in Guatemala and thought about why God took me there.

Initially, I wanted to go because I believed in this idea of a "Vision" Trip. Catching a vision appealed to me and I wanted to be impassioned, "set on fire" to use a Christian cliche. But I don't think that this was the reason that God took me.

Part of me went hoping to be used. To "give of my gifts" seemed like the appropriate motivation. But, though I worked hard at my "job" using my talents in Guatemala, I don't think that this was why God allowed me to go either.

I wasn't there to get "gung ho" about missions, I wasn't there to offer anything that I had.

Instead, I was there to be humbled.

At every turn I was confronted by saints from whom I had/have so much to learn.

Tita, the Mother Teresa of La Limonade, strong and full of love. In watching her fight and even risk her safety for children who have "no societal worth," I was humbled. Lord, give me courage even a fraction of Tita's.

Ignacio, chaplain to gang members exponentially removed from society, passing through many walls both physical and societal to sit with Guatemala's "worst." Sitting, listening, caring, himself an ex-gang member offering peace that passes understanding. I was humbled. Lord, give me mercy, not pity that walks by, but mercy that sits and listens even to those that make me uncomfortable.

I was humbled also by the gang members themselves. Standing in a small circle we asked them what they had done to be in prison. All of them had committed murder. I wasn't struck by their sin, but rather my own. I had such an overwhelming sense of my own guilt. In the eyes of God we are the same. How often have I hated someone, and by Christ's words, murdered them in my heart. My sentence should be the same. Lord forgive me for making light of my sin, and thus making light of my redemption.

Maida. The dream home that she and her husband spent all their finances and a year of work to make livable, was mostly destroyed by a flood. Half of their house was washing away in front of their eyes and her husband said, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Though other groups have come through and planned to help Maida with her house she pointed them towards others who "needed it more." Lord, give me the faith of Maida.

I am so thankful for the chance to have met these people and the countless others that we came into contact with in Guatemala. Praise God for these saints and the things that God is teaching us through their lives, may we live out these prayers here in Whatcom County.