Slingshots and Smooth Stones

Today is the first day I've been back in the office since returning from Honduras. I walked in, turned on the light, and placed my bag in its usual spot as I prepared to open up my laptop and get cranking on the hundreds of e-mails I received while I was away. (Forgot to turn on my out of office reply. Whoops!) 

When I sat down in my chair, I immediately noticed a slingshot that someone had placed on my desk. I don't know where it came from. It definitely has a more primitive look than the wrist-rocket my dad gave to me long ago. It reminded me of David. Not that David. Not the King of Israel that slew Goliath as a young man armed with a slingshot and five smooth stones. But David . . . the twelve year old Honduran I have grown close to in my past two trips to that country.

I'm still processing all that the Lord was teaching me on that trip. But I do know this. The one moment that left an indelible mark on my heart was when I had to say "hasta luego" to David. He was seated alone on the bench just outside Pastor Daniel's home. It was a seating area to which our team had become well acquainted. The bus was ready to go. The bags had all been loaded.

I sat down next to David. No one said a word at first. We both just began picking up and tossing small stones at a nearby target. A game we played often. However, there was a different feeling in the air. I broke the silence when I told him in Spanish that I was going to miss him. He looked at me and without saying a word he gave me a big hug. He held on a little tighter than the night before when our team said our good-byes to everyone at the Friday night church service. As I pulled him back to speak again, I saw that some big tears had welled up in his eyes and had begun to drip down his face. And then it hit me.

David is positioned to my left in this picture. 

These are real relationships that we're building.

These people matter to us. David's life matters to me. And we matter to them. The trips made by our church to the village of El Ocote aren't mere southern excursions, or a check in the box to say that we engage in international missions. It is a gospel partnership between two churches that want to advance the kingdom of God by making disciples and are doing our best to be "most passionate about what's most important."

People. Loving God. And loving people.

"And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, 'Which commandment is the most important of all?' Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:28-31 ESV, Emphasis added).