Day 1 in Honduras: The Cross of Trash

Seven days in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, deserves at least seven blog posts, so for the next seven days I will be posting a daily report on God's greatness as revealed to me in Honduras over Spring Break. Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for this trip because God heard your prayers and mine. He has been actively working in Honduras. It was such a blessing for me to see His fingerprints and join Him in His work for a week. My stories are small pieces of a larger picture of God's kingdom advancing in Tegucigalpa. To Him be the glory!

Our first stop in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, was to a place on the top of a mountain called La Cruz de Chatarra. It literally translates to "the cross made of trash", which is exactly what it was. If you were to fix your attention at just one piece, you would see a scrap of metal, a shard of glass, or a rusted piece of old junk. However, if you took a step back and looked at the cross as a whole, you would see a work of art.

The artist of this beautiful masterpiece was a man who gave His wrecked life over to Christ. Jesus, in return, turned the mess of His life into something beautiful. As a testimony to God's ability to create beauty out of trash, this man made this cross overlooking the city of Tegucigalpa and the mountains that surround it.

As I stood on the top of that mountain and gazed upon the cross, I prayed a simple prayer to start my first mission trip in Honduras. Lord, thank you for turning our ashes into beauty. Your cross, such an ugly symbol of pain and torture, is also a symbol of extraordinary beauty because of the grace and love it freely pours out on your children.

Then, as the sun began to set, I noticed the beams of light creating a silhouette of the cross against the evening sky. I could hardly look at the cross because the sun was shining so brightly behind it. In that moment, I prayed a prayer that would define the rest of my week: Lord, may your light burst forth this week. I didn't know how much that prayer would mean to me by the end of the trip, but looking back now, I see just how much God answered it. And I can't wait to share it with you...