2016 POWER TRIP ….. Week Two – Day 4
Where is Builder Bob …. It’s Time to Get Back to Work!!
Day four, (Monday, 1/18) took us back across the border to Reynosa for three building projects and a prison visit. Our morning worship and devotions took place in the chapel at Senda De Vita ( Road to Life ) Ministry. Senda De Vita, under the care of missionary Hector Luna, is a ministry that provides food, clothing and a place to sleep and the message of God’s love to homeless and recently deported people. This vital ministry has literally risen from land that had been a garbage dump.
Jay Taverez, a Week Two team member and pastor at a church in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, led a spirit filled time of praise music; followed by our morning message from Pastor David Burkett. Pastor Burkett built on Sunday’s message from 2 Kings 4, focusing on V 16-37. Elisha had told the Shumanite woman, who had been unable to have children, that she would give birth to a son within one year. The woman in great joy was rearing her son, only to have the child die suddenly. The woman’s reaction in her deep grief was what Pastor Burkett drew our attention to; as the woman immediately sought out Elisha. Elisha seeing her great grief agreed to follow her back to her home, where he brought her son back to life! The Shumanite woman moved forward toward the person she knew would be able to help her.
The question for us to consider, is where do we turn when something or someone is taken from us, or when any tragedy confronts us. If we are like the Shumanite woman (and we should be) we should turn to God … Our only source of hope in times of trouble … Even when it may be difficult to see the Lord through the storm raging around us. Pastor Burkett challenged us to keep moving toward God, because he never leaves us or forsakes us!
The need to press forward toward God in the midst of difficulty seemed to be playing out all around us in the border towns in which we have been working. Many of the Mexican people are living in very dire circumstances … In physical conditions that we would classify as unlivable. Power Ministry has been called by God to provide opportunities for physical and spiritual change through the projects undertaken each year, as well as the rice and beans, Spanish translation bibles and tracts provided to the partner missionaries for use throughout the year.
Today the Team focused on three building projects and a prison visit in the Reynosa area. Work continued on the construction of a two classroom education building at the Mission Familiar Classrooms project, with the completion of the roof trusses and the siding of three walls. Improvements were made to all of the classrooms at the Big Heart Orphanage; which had been built by Power in prior years. Improvements were also made to the Power Storage Building, located on the grounds of the Refugio International de Ninos, a large orphanage located on the border in Pharr, Texas.
Today’s fourth activity took place as part of our Team ministered in a prison in the Reynosa area. The men were able to minister to about thirty of the eighty-five women living in this prison. Jay Taverez led the group in praise songs, several of our men gave testimonies of God’s mercy and grace in their lives, two of the women gave testimonies as well; followed by a message preached by Jay Taverez. The spirit was moving, touching our men deeply and leading several of the women to come forward in response to Jay’s invitation to accept Jesus … praise God!
A definite highlight of the day was the smoked barbecue lunch prepared by “Gator Carter and his wife Deanna, who established and lead the Big Heart Orphanage.
Well in full disclosure, the barbecue was amazing … But the real highlight of the day occurred once in the morning, listening to the testimony of Hector Luna of Senda De Vita, and again after lunch in listening to the testimony of “Gator” Carter. Both of these men and their wives and families made the “Jump” into full time ministry service in the Reynosa area many years ago. Their stories, while not identical, are very similar in that both of these men and their wives live daily in the presence of God, fully dependent on his grace and mercies. They continue to move forward, pressing into God, in the face of storms that daily confront their ministries … Not turning away in frustration or defeat at every seemingly insurmountable roadblock.
It would seem that not only the Shumanite woman in 2 Kings, but also Hector Luna and “Gator” Carter got it right, and learned the importance of seeking God’s presence and moving forward toward God in times of trials …. It makes you stop and think ….it would also seem that a Power trip will do that to you, as well!
Terry Hickey, Week Two Team