“I love mankind,” proclaimed Linus, the theologian among Charles Schulz’s Peanuts crew. “It’s people I can’t stand.”
Our little crew of five returned yesterday afternoon concluding a week-long mission trip to serve an orphanage in Tijuana.
We had a variety of experiences from playing with little children and teenagers to ministering with a kind word and sandwiches and water to people scavenging for a living in a dump to achieving the grace to live in love among five totally disparate personality types.
We all were gracious. Although, I felt my grace slipping a couple of times in the exasperation of too many leaders. That was momentary, and I asked God to get me back on track. (That’s a personality trait of mine–getting annoyed in certain situations. We work on correcting our personality traits that prevent us from living totally within God’s grace.)
We learned
- that it is hard to surrender control to God and to others
- that Mexican men and older boys can out-work us
- that God’s grace shines through us as we relate with orphans
- that many people serve God through their dedication to serving orphans and abused women and children
- that it is hard to surrender control to God (oh, did I already mention that?)
- that we can serve in many ways and through many people
- that the field is immense and we can only serve so many, but that the one we serve is blessed
- that it’s all worth it
We love manking one person at a time.
Faith Venture 
Leave a comment