As I\u2019ve written before, I struggled with the Spanish language.\u00a0 I butchered it in ways that it may have never been butchered before.\u00a0 I would learn simple phrases that I could speak to people like \u201cGod bless you\u201d or \u201cbendiciones\u201d but when it came time for me to speak, my brain would freeze up and I\u2019d just nod and say something like \u201cadios\u201d!<\/p>\n
While this was very frustrating when I was trying to order a burger with mustard and pickles only (I ended up with a burger with everything but mustard and pickles!), it was even more frustrating to me when I was trying to communicate very important things like the love of God.\u00a0 I would be in someone\u2019s home who was not sure where there next meal would come from, who was in need of surgery, who had experienced death and I couldn\u2019t tell them how much God loves them.\u00a0 I would be with kids who had no Dad to speak of or who\u2019s parents abandoned them or worse, stayed with them and abused them, and I couldn\u2019t tell them about how God loved them and sent His Son to redeem them.\u00a0 I felt so useless!<\/p>\n
Saturday night, I was journaling and praying and thinking through this frustration and I heard God reminding me\u2026show them<\/strong> you love them and you won\u2019t need\u00a0 to speak their language.\u00a0 I began to remember that the universal language IS love.\u00a0 Not just spoken to or about someone, but in action.<\/p>\n Before we left for Honduras, Adrian gave several of us a book by Bob Goff titled, \u201cLove And then there was Cameron.\u00a0 Cameron was one of the workers at Mission Lazarus, I believe he runs the agriculture side of the mission.\u00a0 Cameron was with us one night in our devo sharing about the work of mission Lazarus and sharing his personal story\u2026and God used Cameron to continue with His message for me.\u00a0 Cameron told us of some of the work of Mission Lazarus in Honduras.\u00a0 He told us that if they went to people who were homeless or starving Cameron shared with us a very familiar passage of scripture, John 1:1.\u00a0 This is a very familiar scripture to me, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God\u2026.etc\u201d\u00a0 But Cameron shared this scripture from the Spanish translation of scripture.<\/p>\n John 1:1 \u201cEn el principio exist\u00eda el Verbo, y el Verbo estaba con Dios\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n He shared the Spanish version with us because of the use of the word \u201cVerbo\u201d, in the beginning was the \u201cverbo\u201d\u2026that\u2019s right the VERB\u2026the action\u2026that is how Jesus is described by John.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how we should be described by the world.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t care if I\u2019m described as smart, or right, or talented\u2026but if I am to be like Christ, I should be described as someone who is DOING something.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care if our church has the best singing or the most right doctrine or the flashiest building\u2026but if we are to be a Church of Christ, we should be described as a church who is DOING something.\u00a0 Doing something out of love.\u00a0 Doing something that requires sacrifice.\u00a0 Doing something for people I love.\u00a0 Doing something for people that are very hard for me to love.<\/p>\n LOVE DOES!\u00a0 And if we\u2026if I\u2026 am going to claim to be a son of a God who is defined by love, I most be defined by Love.<\/p>\n Father, thank you for teaching me so much in Honduras.\u00a0 Thank you for your patience Father\u2026.I need it.\u00a0 I commit to you Father to talk less\u2026.and do more\u2026.in Your name!<\/em><\/p>\n DC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the last piece I will write on this blog concerning my trip to Honduras.\u00a0 By no means does this mean that this is all that I learned in Honduras!\u00a0 I am still learning from God through my Honduras … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/store.catalystspace.com\/product_images\/b\/347\/Goff_Love_Does__89653_zoom.jpg\")
Does\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 God was also using this book to remind me over and over, that love isn\u2019t just somebody standing in front of a group of people preaching and telling them about God, or singing about God.\u00a0 Love is actually doing something.\u00a0 Goff tells story after story of people who\u2019s love for God and their fellow man manifest in incredible deeds and miracles.<\/p>\n![\"DSC_0375\"](\"http:\/\/doylecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/DSC_0375_thumb.jpg\" "\\"DSC_0375\\"")
<\/a>or dying and told them how much God loves them but didn\u2019t help them, those people wouldn\u2019t really want to hear about this God who in their eyes had left them in poverty and hurt.\u00a0 However, when they served these people, simply out of their love for them and for God, the people began to ask why\u2026.\u201dwhy would you do such a thing for me?\u201d Then Cameron and others at Mission Lazarus simply tell them of the great love God has for them.\u00a0 Love does\u2026it doesn\u2019t just talk\u2026it does.<\/p>\n