on the bahamas

to watch God, our Heavenly Father, work in my own life has been both powerful and humbling. to watch Him work in the lives of others, particularly those whom i’ve been discipling, is powerful and humbling as well. but uniquely so. at times, the recognition of God’s work in another’s life is far more compelling, spurring us on towards love, good deeds and a renewed focus on Christ, the Son. this is not always a pleasant epiphany, but it is always a good one. and one to be thankful for.

recently i was privileged to be part of a missions team from trinity church that visited the caribbean nation of the bahamas in hopes of spreading Christ’s love and furthering the kingdom of God. our primary focus lay at the all saints’ camp, a modern-day leper colony for those with hiv/aids or any other debilitating condition. lepers, outcasts by our standards, children of God by His. i say without hesitation that the joy and love that the residents poured out on our team with never be forgotten, by anyone. ‘tis a humbling thing when you expect to minister on a missions trip and instead are ministered to. still, hardly an hygienic place (also without electricity or running water), the camp needs your thoughts and prayers. we also spent time at a local orphanage, the bahamian association for the physically disabled (b.a.p.d.), and the adventure learning centre, which is the bahamian equivalent to c.i.mi. (catalina island marine institute, where many young kids living in so cal go for field trips). needless to say, the days were full. students and leaders alike returned exhausted from our various outings. but God spoke through the trip in a powerful way, and in the end, despite the fatigue, everyone was begging for more time. many cited their interactions with the precious residents as the most awesome part of the entire trip. ‘twas a beautiful thing. seeing God move in the lives of the teenagers that came from l.a. to spend their spring break serving the untouchables of bahamian society was amazing to witness (and inspiring, to say the least).

by His grace we were able to do His will, and returned from the trip refocused and rejuvenated. may He continue to work in and through us, in redlands and elsewhere. 

one story - about halfway through the week, i took three students over to the adventure learning centre for the day, and the staff there placed each of us with a different class. i was with the fifth-graders. as the day progressed, it became clear to me who the trouble-makers of the class were. of course, there was a posse of them, all boys, with a ringleader who clearly was not interested in paying any kind of attention. so i had to be very stern with them to keep them on task, which obviously didn’t make me the most popular kid in town. i began to sense their increasing disdain for me and whatever authority i claimed to have, and so began to pray for reconciliation and the continued opportunity to share Christ’s love. the ringleader (shawn) and i were sitting in timeout together, and began to talk (we didn’t say that much, as he usually had to repeat things a few times (bahamian accents)). but that was all it took. as we were walking back to join the rest of the group, he took my hand, looked up at me, and said, “let’s skip?” so we did. in fact, we all did. me, shawn, and the rest of his posse. the toughest kids in town, holding hands and skipping around the a.l.c. i’m convinced that everyone - the kids, the teachers, myself - was slightly amused and thoroughly confused. but it didn’t matter.