Arms Wide Open
“Today’s VBS is not for the faint-hearted,” they said when they introduced our project for the day. Therefore, I was the first one to sign up. Bring it on! was my gut reaction and initial thought.
Over the river and through the woods, to Santa Barbara we go. We parked the van (after a one hour drive on dirt and gravel back roads) by a river, stuffed our packs with VBS materials, forged the river up to our waists, and then hiked another mile and a half into the middle of nowhere Nicaragua. And there, in the most remote location, was a little mission school pained blue and red with the Mision Para Cristo logo and all.
The moment we saw the kids, our sore arms, sweaty backs, panting lungs, and soggy pants all became worth it. We sat with the children in a large circle on the ground and taught them how to play duck duck goose, which they thought was the funniest game in the world. They in turn taught us how to play a dancing game. We taught them songs and they taught us songs, and eventually we got around to sharing with them our VBS program.
I am consistently impressed with the Nicaraguan children and their generous, unreserved love. They are so quick to become your friend and to love you. Some of them, even after only a few minutes, become little magnets that follow you around everywhere, holding your hands, pulling at your shirt, and begging to sit in your lap. Even though they hardly know me, they accept my love without hesitancy and then return it to me generously.
It reminds me of Jesus teaching us to have the faith of a child. Such a faith has no hesitancy or reserve. The faith of a child crawls into God’s lap, accepts His love, and returns it to Him generously. Even when we don’t understand God – what He is saying or what He is doing – we trust Him enough to know that He has good things in store for us, so we grab onto His hand and ask to stay with Him.
Those kids teach me that lesson time after time.
At the end of the day, we hiked back through the woods and across the river. We then sprawled out on the giant boulders the lined the river’s edge to enjoy our sack lunches. The sun was shining just enough to keep us perfectly warm, and the breeze was blowing just enough to cool us down. The sound of the swirling waters and the beauty of the vast blue sky and lush mountains made the moment surreal. I turned around to see one of my teammates standing tall with her head tilted back and her arms spread wide open. The wind gently blew her hair and a gigantic smile spread across her face as she said, “God is good!”
In that moment, my heart almost burst with joy and satisfaction because that was my thought and feeling exactly! What a day! We just traveled far and wide to bring VBS to a group of kids who don’t get that kind of treat very often. We shared the love of Jesus and shared in singing His praises. We wore ourselves out playing in the hot sun, and now we relaxed in the middle of God’s creation. There was glory all around – in the stream, the wind, and the faces of children – and the only natural and appropriate response was to spread arms wide open, lift eyes to heaven, and proclaim that God is good.
And we meant it with every fiber of our beings.
I have those moments all the time in Nicaragua – those moments when your heart bursts with thankfulness to God, when your smile hurts, and when you just want to shout from the rooftops how awesome God is. That’s what God’s presence does. Sometimes it makes us explode. Sometimes it brings us to our knees. And sometimes it calls us to lift our eyes and spread our arms open wide in the wind of His Spirit.
I want to remember that moment for the rest of my life, but even more than that, I want to relive it. I want to be so in tune to God’s presence, so involved in His work, so in touch with His Spirit that I experience Him that fully and vividly every day.
Let us commit our lives to following Him across rivers and valleys. May we journey with Him into more intimate relationship. May we open our eyes to His presence, lift our faces toward His, spread our arms wide open, and proclaim from the mountaintops, “God is good!”
Over the river and through the woods, to Santa Barbara we go. We parked the van (after a one hour drive on dirt and gravel back roads) by a river, stuffed our packs with VBS materials, forged the river up to our waists, and then hiked another mile and a half into the middle of nowhere Nicaragua. And there, in the most remote location, was a little mission school pained blue and red with the Mision Para Cristo logo and all.
The moment we saw the kids, our sore arms, sweaty backs, panting lungs, and soggy pants all became worth it. We sat with the children in a large circle on the ground and taught them how to play duck duck goose, which they thought was the funniest game in the world. They in turn taught us how to play a dancing game. We taught them songs and they taught us songs, and eventually we got around to sharing with them our VBS program.
I am consistently impressed with the Nicaraguan children and their generous, unreserved love. They are so quick to become your friend and to love you. Some of them, even after only a few minutes, become little magnets that follow you around everywhere, holding your hands, pulling at your shirt, and begging to sit in your lap. Even though they hardly know me, they accept my love without hesitancy and then return it to me generously.
It reminds me of Jesus teaching us to have the faith of a child. Such a faith has no hesitancy or reserve. The faith of a child crawls into God’s lap, accepts His love, and returns it to Him generously. Even when we don’t understand God – what He is saying or what He is doing – we trust Him enough to know that He has good things in store for us, so we grab onto His hand and ask to stay with Him.
Those kids teach me that lesson time after time.
At the end of the day, we hiked back through the woods and across the river. We then sprawled out on the giant boulders the lined the river’s edge to enjoy our sack lunches. The sun was shining just enough to keep us perfectly warm, and the breeze was blowing just enough to cool us down. The sound of the swirling waters and the beauty of the vast blue sky and lush mountains made the moment surreal. I turned around to see one of my teammates standing tall with her head tilted back and her arms spread wide open. The wind gently blew her hair and a gigantic smile spread across her face as she said, “God is good!”
In that moment, my heart almost burst with joy and satisfaction because that was my thought and feeling exactly! What a day! We just traveled far and wide to bring VBS to a group of kids who don’t get that kind of treat very often. We shared the love of Jesus and shared in singing His praises. We wore ourselves out playing in the hot sun, and now we relaxed in the middle of God’s creation. There was glory all around – in the stream, the wind, and the faces of children – and the only natural and appropriate response was to spread arms wide open, lift eyes to heaven, and proclaim that God is good.
And we meant it with every fiber of our beings.
I have those moments all the time in Nicaragua – those moments when your heart bursts with thankfulness to God, when your smile hurts, and when you just want to shout from the rooftops how awesome God is. That’s what God’s presence does. Sometimes it makes us explode. Sometimes it brings us to our knees. And sometimes it calls us to lift our eyes and spread our arms open wide in the wind of His Spirit.
I want to remember that moment for the rest of my life, but even more than that, I want to relive it. I want to be so in tune to God’s presence, so involved in His work, so in touch with His Spirit that I experience Him that fully and vividly every day.
Let us commit our lives to following Him across rivers and valleys. May we journey with Him into more intimate relationship. May we open our eyes to His presence, lift our faces toward His, spread our arms wide open, and proclaim from the mountaintops, “God is good!”
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