Spreading Light: a final thought

My dear Seniors,

This week you experienced both the best and the worst of the world – sometimes at the very same time. Like clouds dueling with sunlight above the school play area in Bethania, darkness and Light battled it out right in front of us.

• Little hungry bellies rumbled at recess. And those same little bodies laughed and danced and played.
• Foul smells and fear permeated homes in the ravine. And those living in them welcomed us and prayed for us.
• Fernando asked for the life of our dear 14-year-old friend sentenced to die. And that life was rescued.

What do you do when you return from such a war zone? How do you go back to normal life?

In short, you don’t.

Now that you have seen what it is to live hungry and helpless, you cannot unsee it. You cannot ignore it. You cannot forget it. You are now accountable for the knowledge you have. And you are now responsible to respond.

My prayer, and the prayer of your parents and teachers, is this:

1. Continue to love. The abandon with which you loved on those school kids and Clubhouse kids was breathtaking. No amount of dirt or lice, blazing sun or fatigue, kept you from playing and running and laughing and hugging. Your focus was love. May your focus always be love. People will be messy and conditions will never be optimal. But as Christ first loved us, let’s love anyway.
2. Embrace heart break. I hope you left a piece of your heart in Guatemala – not because you left behind the children you had grown attached to, but because you now understand the full-blown effects of sin in the world and the abject need of a Savior. The abuse, the fear, the betrayal – these things are not specific to Guatemala (though perhaps they are more obvious). They are specific to our fallen world, and our hearts should shatter at the thought of souls enslaved to sin. If we continue to love, we should also expect to feel pain and heartbreak – that’s part of loving. It’s not something to resist or hide from. Heartbreak will not end us – it will soften us, it will teach us, it will enable empathy to grow, and it will allow Christ to shine out far more brightly than if we stayed safe and intact in our own isolated worlds.
3. Fix your eyes on Jesus. The world is going to do its best to lull you back into the life you lived prior to the trip – prior to the awareness of all the work there is still to do. It’s also going to do its best to distract you – sucking you into pandemics and school work and post-graduation plans. Just remember that amidst the whorl of life, there is one constant: Jesus. Stay in his word, speak to him, listen for his still, small voice, follow his example (Philippians 2), and remind yourself daily of Isaiah 26: 3-4 “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

As I said in our team meeting, as teachers, you are our “Clubhouse” kids. We have loved playing with you, teaching you, loving on you. We know that very soon our time with you will come to an end, and we’ll watch you walk out into the world. Our prayer is that you will lead with love and let your heart be broken, all while keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

It was my honor to work alongside each of you this week. I have loved watching you serve Jesus and serve others in Jesus’s name. May this, for all of you, be the beginning of a life spent spreading light in the darkness.

With abounding love,

Mrs. Urquhart