Heaven Under Our Feet

This past week I had the opportunity to travel with a church group to Costa Rica and visit the Lighthouse Children's Home. Its founder is Larry Neff, who was an orphan himself at age three. Larry felt the call early in his Christian life to build Christian orphanages to help homeless and needy children. The first home he built was in Mississippi in 1978. The second home he opened was in Costa Rica and he has since opened additional homes in Panama, Mexico, and India.

I have to admit that I was nervous and anxious on the flight down as I wondered about the living conditions and how the children would react to bunch of “gringos” invading their home.

A tour guide described the area where the orphanage is located as the armpit of Costa Rica with broken down squatter homes, guard dogs, and lots of bars to keep the thieves out. As we arrived, I would say that was a pretty apt description of the outside, but what lay on the inside contained the jewels and treasures of heaven. For you see, the Lighthouse home is comprised of 23 children who are there for a myriad of reasons. Most are there because their parents have either abandoned them or could not afford to care for them. Tragic, I know, but when you meet these children you would never guess that their backgrounds were so broken. Larry and his wife Paula, and Sally the “house mother” and her husband Terry have literally poured the love of God into these children.

Mother Teresa used to say that a person’s greatest need is not food and water but to be loved. These children are well fed, well clothed, and have a Christian school on the premises, but you quickly realize that it is not these things that enable them to exude such peace and happiness. It is the love and acceptance they receive every day. It is not hyperbole when I say that our church group had the privilege of being in the presence of living epistles.

These children with such difficult and tragic beginnings welcomed all of us with open arms, smiling faces, and a sense of love that I have never felt before anywhere. The language barrier (the primary language is Spanish) soon faded as we gathered every night to share testimonies, Bible devotions, and songs. During the day we dug holes, poured cement, mowed lawns, washed and painted school walls, cooked meals, and helped teach the school-aged children. Each day we marveled at how each child had his/her role in the home and did his/her chores without complaining.

On the plane ride home, I sat next to a man from Miami who had traveled to Costa Rica on business. When I shared with him that we were there on a mission’s trip, he asked if my husband used his vacation time to go on the trip. When I replied yes, he remarked, “Really? He used his own time to live in a place like that and dig holes and mow lawns every day?” I suppose that is a fair assessment as on the surface it seems ludicrous to spend your vacation time in the armpit of Costa Rica digging ditches and washing walls but, in reality, God gave us a taste of heaven.

In so many ways the whole experience reminds me of all the paradoxes that are contained in Christianity – you have to die to live, lose your life to find it, have faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain, go to a Costa Rican orphanage to find the Sermon on the Mount being lived out every day.

A woman named Patricia who can only be described as a woman completely in love with the Lord, was our tour guide for a day as we visited the Rain Forest. At one point during dinner she commented that Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, but rather how to pray. As I reflect on the trip, I realize perhaps more than ever that the gospel is not contained in great orators but in great hearts that seek to obey the Lord at any cost. What a privilege to have seen the gospel up close at the Lighthouse Children’s home. I am already planning my return visit.
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"Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them." - Mother Teresa

A Living Epistle

This past week I was listening to a preacher speak about the love of God and he began detailing the life of Mother Teresa, who was an Albanian Catholic nun and founder of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India. She ministered for more than 45 years to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. At the time of her death in 1997, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity had more than 4,000 sisters, and an associated brotherhood of 300 members, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, personal helpers, orphanages, and schools.

The preacher went on to share a quote of hers that has remained lodged in my head all week because of its incredible poignancy and truth. An interviewer years ago had asked Mother Teresa how she was able to accomplish such great works in her life given her humble beginnings as an Albanian nun. She responded that she had not accomplished great works, but had rather performed simple acts toward others in need with great love.

As I pondered this statement, I thought to myself that she perfectly summed up the crux of the gospel and the Christian faith. It is not the acts themselves but acts performed in the love of Christ that minister to the body and soul.

Mother Teresa said many times throughout her life that being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. She acutely understood and lived the message of Christ as he told His followers to love their neighbor as themselves. In fact, all of Christ’s miracles were not performed simply to wow people but to showcase His love. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, visited the lonely, and raised the dead because of His great love. He told us in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that love is the greatest virtue of all because it encapsulates all of the others.

So, it is no wonder that in Matthew chapter 25, as Jesus speaks about the judgment of God when the believers will be separated from the unbelievers, He tells us that the litmus test of our faith in Him would be practically demonstrated in our lives as we minister to the needs of others. He never mentions what a devout Christian we were in terms of how often we attended church, Bible studies, or revival meetings, but instead focuses on how we loved and met the needs of others, in particular other believers, as he says to those on His right, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”

Did you notice that the acts that are commended are not earth shattering in nature, are they? Christ speaks of giving water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, shelter to a stranger, and visiting the sick, lonely, or imprisoned. These are acts we all can do regularly in the normal course of life no matter our status, education, or geographical location. Christ did not say, “When you founded a church, surrendered to the missionary field, or built a school, you did these things to me.” He said a cup of water given to someone in need was given to Him.

What an amazing thought - a cup of water, some food, a bag of clothes, shelter for a stranger, time spent with the sick or lonely. These are the demonstrable acts of a life that is completely lost in Christ and these were the very acts that Mother Teresa performed over and over again for 45 years. This is why she said that she performed small acts with great love because she understood the Person she was truly ministering to – Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thought to allow to captivate our life and shape our walk.

So, this brings us to the most important question. What are we doing to minister to others? What am I doing? I recently listened to a sermon where the preacher said that your neighbor is anyone that has a need that you can meet. How many people around you and me have needs that we can meet? Let’s dedicate ourselves this Christmas season and throughout 2011 to becoming living epistles to others.

"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus." - Mother Teresa