Who You Are

There’s an old question that people ponder:  “What would a person do in a crisis situation?”  It’s felt that how people respond in a crisis reveals who they truly are.  I’m not sure I love that old question, but I’ve learned of a different question during this mission trip to Monterrey:

What would a Christian do without all the day-to-day busyness?

On this mission trip, I saw a lot of Christians unplug from their normal lives, focus on Jesus, and serve orphans, caregivers, and local volunteers.  God blessed the dedicated time.  I was blown away by the people serving on the trip with me.   We worked hard fixing up the orphanage in very hot conditions.  We loved those orphans with love and patience.  We connected with caregivers and volunteers despite the language barrier.  We prayed powerful, honest prayers for the caregivers and orphans.  We had small groups and “daily debriefings” where we opened up about what we loved each day and what we were struggling with in our normal lives.  When we had personal problems (and we did), we worked through them.

And it amazed me to see it in our children.  At home, I typically can’t get my kids to truly work hard outside the house for a full hour.  At the orphanage in Monterrey, I saw our kids work hard in the blazing sun with sweat dripping off them.  I saw our kids play for hours with orphans who haven’t yet learned to share, have patience, and take turns.  The kids understood why we needed to work so hard and love so selflessly, and they did.  God blessed and empowered our kids to serve amazingly.

And I saw God’s love and grace.  Orphans receiving and feeling genuine love, support, and attention from us.  Caregivers feeling appreciation and recognition that their work was truly God’s work.  And we missionaries being loved back from the orphanage.  Through this experience, God gave us insight into our daily lives and healing for our daily struggles.

This is what Christian life looked like in Monterrey this year… with a week devoted to following Jesus and to serving at an orphanage.  God blessed us like crazy.  I am so glad that my family went.  I’m so thankful to see my kids love selflessly and work hard in Jesus’ name.  This trip was absolutely priceless to me.  I saw the God-blessed best from a great group of people, who now are more like extended family.

By: Andy Kercher