Radical in Ecuador
The modern-day gospel says, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved." Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, "you are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do" - Radical by David Platt.
Our time in Ecuador has been absolutely wonderful, filled with children's programs, mountain scenes, relationship building, painting, loving older people and adventure-filled everyday life...all of this in Spanish! After a long time of being separated, our team has finally been joined again (except for Eileen, luckily not too long until we can be together again.)
Despite many awesome experiences in this country with many different people, I found my biggest challenge in a book I borrowed from Tiaan. This book was written by a pastor of a mega-church in America (David Platt), explaining the difference between the real Gospel and the gospel that we manipulated and twisted into looking like the American Dream. It continues to say: "You will not find a verse in Scripture where people are told to ‘bow your heads, close your eyes, and repeat after me ‘. You will not find a place where a superstitious sinner's prayer is even mentioned. And you will not find an emphasis on accepting Jesus. We have taken the infinitely glorious Son of God, who endured the infinitely terrible wrath of God and who now reigns as the infinitely worthy Lord of all, and we have reduced him to a poor, puny Savior who is just begging for us to accept him."
Yeah, I know… Ouch… Isn't that a little bit harsh? Well, it might be...but it made me think. I thought about the amount of times this year that I shared, spoke or taught about the Lamb of God. Even in my daily life, I strive to be always open to portray this Loving Father and the Son who gave it all for us. And that is awesome, He is awesome, but how many times did I honestly share about the Lion of God? How many times have I spoken about the wrath of God? How many times have I WANTED to? Because even more than I was challenged by my idea of the gospel and the way I was living it out, I was once again reminded of my incapability to understand the greatness of it or to live the life God has called me to (out of my own).
And that brought another challenge: to ENJOY. For me, I've learned that taking life too seriously means that I am actually TRYING. And trying means that I am depending on myself to succeed in something. There is a big difference between trying to give over and giving over. So after reading this book and listening to God in this time, I have devoted these last few weeks we have left in the nations to enjoying every moment! And I hope and believe that it won't stop after that either.
On our way to Colombia, early morning hike with our (overweight) bags
Enjoying a gym class in Mira, Ecuador
Celebrating Erick after a good day's painting