Before I Left

I had just returned from an awesome trip to Massachusetts with my best friend, and I was frantically packing to leave the next morning for Guyana. She was helping me, as usual, and talking to me about her two recent trips to Haiti. She's absolutely incredible; her passion for those little Haitian orphans she spent her time with is something that I truly admire.

Back to the story : )

I was half listening because I was so "busy", and then she quoted something that hit me...

It was from the book The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. I can't find the exact quote but it went something like this:

Those who have God and everything have no more than those who have God and have nothing.

She reminded me, with this quote, that I had nothing more than the people I was going to be with. She also told me to remember while I was there that I wasn't God, I couldn't save them or even offer a huge solution to their lifelong problems. I was going to be there to love on them, to be an extension of Christ, and to make Him known. It was a powerful reality check for me because honestly, I probably would of stepped foot in Guyana thinking I was going to be their savior. How wrong would I have been...

It's still something that I think about. I really, really want to know the magic solution to ending all of their hunger, pain, desperation, etc. but I won't ever know it. No human ever can know it.

I need to keep this mindset when I go back (God-willing) in April. I have nothing more then they do.

Reality checks are a very good thing sometimes...