I recently went to Guatemala on a quick trip – a very successful trip that had one mission – capture the story behind the children’s home. We went in, accomplished our task and headed home. I think we actually spent more time traveling than we did with the kids and Pastor Cristian & Eugenia. It’s always a joy to see them, I love their hearts, their faith, obedience, and the love for the children that God has placed in their care. My favorite part of visiting them has always been listening to the visions that God has given them and continues to give, and of course, Cristian’s stories. On this trip, one story stuck out in my mind as I was reflecting on the trip. I will ad-lib his story to the best of my recollection, as if he were telling it –
“When our son Isaac was about 10, I decided to finally take him to a village and teach him to minister and serve the lost – to learn our ministry. When we left, I said Isaac you must follow me – stay behind me as we go and watch and you will learn. You learn first by following. As we started on our journey that would be several miles, I noticed that Isaac was starting to walk past me and get in front – so I stopped and said, No … No Isaac you must follow! So Isaac put his head down and got behind me and we kept walking. I knew he was excited to be learning about our ministry – we had known for some time that this day was coming and we had talked about it for a long time. A little while later, Isaac was walking in front of me again – this time, I stopped and looked at him and said – my son, you must follow the teacher in order to learn – each step you are learning and one day you will lead – so stay behind and watch me and follow me. As we continued walking, we went around a corner and as I made my next step, I fell in a hole and tumbled to the ground – soon after, Isaac fell on top of me and we kept rolling – I yelled, Isaac what are you doing my son? He rolled over and got up and looked at me and said – dad, you told me to follow you and learn, so I did!” I could not stop laughing – we all laughed about that story and made fun jokes throughout the rest of our visit.
There are times when we as humans, lead people down the wrong path – people we love and people we don’t even know that are watching us or following our lead. We ask our children to learn from us but we at times are far from perfect examples.
Deuteronomy 31: 8 = The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Our heavenly father is quite the opposite – he will never lead us down the wrong path. When we stumble, he is there to pick us up. He will guide us through darkness – he is our light. Who guides you through your journeys? When you don’t know where you are going, who do you depend on? I think Pastor Cristian and Isaac learned a great lesson that day … a lesson that will be used to teach so many more along their journey.
Psalm 119:133 = Direct my footsteps according to your word…
