This Is Amazing Grace

          We went to church last night and it was great.  The lesson was translated for us and not only did the translator translate the words but also the emotion and energy of the speaker.  The worship music was great as well, it was not translated but when they began even the first few notes of “This Is Amazing Grace” we all knew what song it was.  Turns out that they love that song in El Salvador as much as we love that song in Canada and nobody wanted the song to end.

          In a land of incredible poverty, the blessing of God’s amazing grace is still recognized.  I have been asking myself some hard questions since our arrival in El Salvador.  They all boil down to why me?  What have I done to deserve the blessing of being in born in such a rich land while others like our brothers and sisters in El Salvador struggle in poverty?  What have I done to deserve the blessing of living in a safe land where I do not fear to be out even in the middle of the night, while my new friends in El Salvador live in such a crime ridden land?  The answer, I haven’t done anything to deserve these blessings, neither have they done anything to deserve their hardships, in fact I am not sure that they see them as hardships.

          There is not a shortage of food in our world it is just poorly distributed.  We have so much that we are too often wasteful and so much never gets used, but is thrown away.  There is not a housing shortage in our world; we have too much while others have too little.  Before you say, “our houses are not too big we need all that space,” let me remind you that we need that space to store all of our things.  Please, do not take me wrong!  I am not saying that it is wrong to have a fridge full of food or a comfortable home.  I am asking that we recognize it as God blessing us and not our right because of the colour of our skin, the place we were born, or the language we speak.  Please do not say we have these things because we work hard and we deserve them.  I have some new friends in El Salvador that walk on hour or more to get to work, work all day in the blazing sun and then walk an hour to get home and get paid a wage so small that they find it almost impossible to survive.

          God in His Amazing grace has blessed us.  With great blessings comes great responsibility.  Please do not build a higher wall, build a longer table.  I am so thankful to come to El Salvador and see God’s grace in action and to share in such a wonderful ministry.

          To my wonderful Bethany family, thank you for this wonderful ministry.  Continue to pray for us we see your prayers answered here daily and please, please, please continue to be generous, Let us share God’s amazing grace with the people of El Salvador.