Dana's Christian Journey

‘Work’ and ‘rest’ were our next two theme words in Nicaragua. We worked hard in the village of La Chuscada constructing a school building to bless the local children. It is a good feeling to be worn out at the end of a day’s work.

Our ‘rest’ day involved a two-hour bus ride to join a celebration. The people of San Marcos de Las Pilas decorated the town, killed a cow for a feast, and rolled out the red carpet for about a hundred visitors.

Amigos for Christ, various mission teams, and the citizens of the village had worked a year to dig a well and extend water lines to each home. We got to witness tears of joy and hear praises to God as ‘running water’ was turned on for the first time.

God worked six days in creation then rested on the seventh, setting a pattern for us to follow. Later, He included a day of rest in the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

But Man made the Sabbath more about rules than rest. Jesus often got into trouble for refusing to follow religion’s traditions. When challenged, He plainly shared God’s intent: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

Jesus presents Himself as the Answer to questions about ‘work’ and ‘rest.’ “Then they asked Him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.’” (John 6:28-29) What a great truth!

In His teaching about the Sabbath, Jesus also pointed to Himself. Timothy Keller wrote: “When Jesus says, ‘I am the Lord of the Sabbath,’ Jesus means He is the Sabbath. He is the source of the deep rest we need. The one-day-a-week rest we take is just a taste of the deep divine rest we need, and Jesus is its source. Jesus says, in effect, ‘As the Lord of the Sabbath, I can give you rest.’”

God wants us to find our total existence in His Son. In Christ, we find the good works God has created us to do and in Christ, we find the rest we so desperately need. No wonder Jesus says, “Come to Me.”

“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Quote from ‘Jesus the King’ by Timothy Keller, ©2011 by Redeemer City to City and Timothy Keller, p. 44

The second word we studied with Amigos for Christ over Thanksgiving break was ‘learn.’

“How long has he been like this?” Jesus asked a father whose son was tormented by a demon. Often the Holy Spirit gave Jesus supernatural insight into situations, but Jesus did not mind asking questions. We learn by asking, by listening, by studying, and by observing.

Early in our week we learned about the village of La Chuscada from a man who lived there. Sebastian grew up in La Chuscada and had to drop out of school after completing the second grade. This was typical in poor villages because parents needed children to haul water and help with chores.

In November of 2013, La Chuscada completed a year’s work to bring running water to each home in the village. Our challenge this year was to build a school. Sebastian shared, “We want our children to have opportunities we never had. We want our children to get a good education. Now they just have a few desks that are set up under the trees. We want them to have a building! Thank you for coming to help us.”

Sebastian and the other members of his village were not asking for handouts. They were simply partnering with followers of Christ who were making Jesus visible in practical ways. I didn’t see anyone work harder than Sebastian.

Learning is important in every area. If you have a Muslim friend or have a desire for Muslims to know Jesus, learn about Islam. If you have a friend with cancer and want to encourage and pray with understanding, learn about the type of cancer. If you have a heart for the homeless and want to find ways to help people get off the street, develop a friendship with someone who can help you learn the various challenges of homelessness.

And if you want to know God, Jesus says, “Come and learn from Me.”

“All things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:27-30

Five words hung in our gathering place in Nicaragua as we worked with Amigos for Christ the week of Thanksgiving. Each word was designed to be the theme of a day. Throughout the week I realized the unifying power of doing things together.

The first word was ‘play,’ which is interesting since we don’t often associate ‘play’ with ‘kingdom’ activity. The focus was the importance of coming together as followers of Jesus to be a witness to the communities we would serve. The ‘play’ was actually a quite challenging task of climbing Cerro Negro, one of the many volcanoes in Nicaragua.

“We are all going to meet at the top of the volcano!” shouted John Bland, the founder of Amigos for Christ. “If you have to stop and rest, don’t worry… we have no time limit. Even if some of us need to be carried up the mountain, we’re all going to celebrate our accomplishment up there!” John pointed to the top of a solid black mountain. This was our day of play.

John started Amigos for Christ fifteen years ago as he and his family moved from Atlanta to Chinandega. He is a humble guy and a Christ-like leader. When he said we were going to meet at the top of a volcano, none of us argued. We assumed he knew what he was talking about, so we all started climbing… all one hundred twenty of us.

Our team of eighteen from Atlanta joined another seventy from various places in the States. Thirty Nicaraguans also joined the group, the strongest of which stayed at the rear to assist those who struggled on the climb. The temperature approached ninety degrees at the beginning, but thankfully dropped as afternoon clouds moved in. While the fastest made the climb in forty minutes, it took three and a half hours for John’s prediction to come true… one hundred twenty people cheered at the top of Cerro Negro.

We experienced what many of us already knew to be true: ‘play’ can produce ‘teamwork’ and ‘teamwork’ can build ‘family.’ We don’t know how Jesus and the apostles played. But we know they climbed some mountains together; we know they lived in community; and we know they understood unity.

Perhaps Jesus intends such experience for all His followers. Let’s not hesitate to play together in His Name. And let’s join His prayer for God’s children to be one.

“I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” John 17:20-21