One of the more vivid memories from my last trip to Colombia was visiting a young mother and her two daughters inside their home. It was our final day (Thursday) in the mission field and it was late in the afternoon ... my translator asked me if she could take the lead and share the gospel with the young woman.
It gave me a chance to pray for the woman while my translator was sharing her heart. It also gave me a chance with my camera to capture the inside of this woman's middle-class home: no carpet or scraped hardwood floor, no 42" HDTV, no oriental area rugs, no oversized chairs around the dining room table, no lamps or area lighting, no custom paint, moldings, etc. A sheet separated the bedroom from the rest of the home and the chairs we sat in inside the home were the chairs we would sit in outside on the front porch. In the kitchen, a few cups hung from the wall ... no cupboards and definitely no microwave. No tchotchke wherever you looked.
As I glanced around her home I thought of images from my home ... an 8-piece place setting of a Snowman design tucked away that we may use once a year ... a backup set of dining room chairs stored in the attic ... tchotchke overflowing on every table ... chairs or couches draped in fabric in the living room that not only match one another, but also the thick carpet as well as the paint color on the wall.
What that woman in Colombia did possess, as well as many of her neighbors -- that we can't find back home .... is love for strangers. She opened her door to us, invited us inside and gave us her most comfortable chairs to sit and rest from the afternoon sun. Most of all, she gave us her full attention. She was being Jesus, before she truly accepted Jesus. The hard part that we can't seem to embrace she seemed to be living 24/7.
"A new commandmant I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." - John 13: 34-35
Church leaders in Colombia were amazed when we explained that evangelism doesn't go too far back home when it's outside the doors of a church. Strangers won't open their front doors, people won't stop on a street and finding groups willing to listen to you in a park or outside a restaurant ... how quickly defeat will be realized. It's also impossible back home to get someone's full attention without a TV, phone or general "noise" distracting conversation.
We're two days away from leaving Texas for Colombia, leaving excess behind to experience genuine love. The Colombians we will meet already have Jesus inside their hearts (love for strangers), they just don't know His story of salvation.
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