I feel like in America, we are raised with this sense of self entitlement. We grow up with so many opportunities and so many people telling us that we can be anything we want to be and do anything we want to do that we very much forget that we are not owed ANYTHING. In the land of the free, we like to think we have rights, but we are not owed rights at all. There is a line in Lecrae's song "Boasting" that says "God has never been obligated to give us life. If we fought for our rights, we'd be in hell tonight". This is absolutely true, and I know this is going to seem like blasphemy in a post-modern country, but we honestly think that we are OWED and DUE an education, a good paying job, wife/husband and kids, nice house, a family dog, and then a nice fat 401K for when we retire so we can literally relax ourselves to death. This is NUTS! Anyone reading this blog that remembers choosing to be born to an American family, the color of your skin, and the economic status of your family, please raise your hand. Nobody? I didn't think so. This reminds me very much of Romans 9.
though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
(Romans 9:11-18 ESV)
Now, I am not saying he calls those who are rich and well off, because God calls whoever he wants to call. He calls the poorest of the poor. I am just saying he, for some reason, allowed us to live in a land of opportunity and we have the audacity to feel entitled to it, as if we did something to deserve it. The reason I am saying all of this is because it suddenly hit me when I had went to Peru that I did not even deserve the conditions I was living in there. Even me sleeping with cockroaches in my bed and poisonous spiders 10 inches above my face was grace upon grace. Let me tell you a summary of what happened on the trip.
First of all, it had been about 12 years since I last had flown on an airplane. I was so nervous!! We flew out of Huntsville to Atlanta and made it just fine. On the flight from Atlanta to Lima, Peru was a Different story. I took my seat beside an 8 year old hispanic girl traveling by herself to go meet her Abuela (grandmother) in Lima. Her name was Stephanie and she was adorable! She pretty muched talked for 4 hours of the 6 hour flight. She told me about her parents being separated and how her best friend once stole her cat and hid it in her closet. The flight attendants were there to help stephanie with anything she needed. On the way to Lima, we were flying through a tropical storm and hit some turbulence. I explained to stephanie that she could not get up until the seat belt sign was off (plus it was way too rough for her to be standing up). Other people were standing up on the plane and going to the bathroom and stephanie asked why they were standing when the seatbelt sign was on. I told her I did not know, in which she replied "they must not care about the law". After about 20 minutes of mild turbulence, our plane dropped. People hit the floor, carry on luggage was falling out of the holders, and flight attendants went scrambling. They announced over the intercom for everyone to sit down and buckle up. The captain came over the intercom and told us that we would be experiencing turbulence for the next couple of hours. Luckily after that, it was not nearly as bad and began to look beautiful as we passed through the storm.
We landed in peru and proceeded to security. This was so strange. There were men with dogs walking around trying to smell for drugs. One of our team members was carrying grass seed to spread over the boy's soccer field, and it was in a clear bag and looked like an illegal drug substance that would be taken away. The way the system worked, was you walk up to this button and press it and if the light turns green, you can go, but if it turns red, you have to stop and be searched. The button was completely random selection. The girl with the grass seed got a red light. The men saw nothing wrong with the bag and allowed her to move along. we moved towards out sleeping quarters. There was a section of the airport near the food court where people were sleeping. We slept with our bags touching us. This was painful. I had been taking 12-16 ibuprophen a day because my back was having very very bad pain to where I would not be able to move if I did not take the medicine. Needless to say, the floor was not comfortable and there was no sleep that night. My first experience using a bathroom in south America was interesting. I literally had to tell myself "trash trash trash trash trash" the whole time to remind myself that peruvian plumbing systems cannot handle toilet paper. This is grace.
it was 5am and time to get going! Our flight to Iquitos was on a smaller plane but still a very beautiful and smooth ride compared to the last one. I felt like we were on a secret mission at this point because we had to get on this bus thing to get to the plane, then we board and we fly to this one city but we are told to not get off, then we fly again and get to Iquitos where we are not suppose to let anyone help us with our luggage except the people they tell us are okay. The airport was sort of open, there was air conditioning in the waiting den. It was not too hot because it was "winter" there (around mid 80s all week). We finally walk outside and see Kristen with Gene and his son and Tyler and Allison waiting for us. They cheered as we walked out, so excited to see that we got there. We boarded a bus and I got ready to see things I had never seen before.
No comments:
Post a Comment