Guatemala, here we come...

For those of you who do not know, Paul and I will get going to Guatemala in February on a short term (9 day) mission through our church. We have now attended 2 trainings to prepare us for this trip. After last night's meeting, one of the other team members sent me some photos from last year. These are a few of them. If you are reading this, there is a good chance you will be getting a letter from us within the next week giving more details, and if you don't it means we don't have your address! :)
We have been thinking about this trip since we started attending Calvary Church 2 years ago. Several of our friends have gone and their stories of how it changed their lives really inspired us. Even though we haven't even been there yet, we can feel our hearts changing in a way we did not expect. Suddenly my concerns with what fabric to cover my cornice boxes with and the new pair of jeans I NEED and how I am going to get my 2 story house cleaned, are shrinking more and more by the minute. These people have no material things, yet they are a happy, proud people. I am finally beginning to see what my purpose may be. And it may not be anything close to what I expected. A few weeks ago, my good friend Jody's dad posted something that totally captivated me. He was discussing how he has always viewed God in a certain way and how recently his view is changing. He said:

"Well, He’s (God's) come out of the closet to which I’ve relegated Him and now facing me has begun to crush my paradigms. As He looks at me, I see that God has two eyes. One eye is bright, welcoming and enjoying His Christ-brought justification of me. It’s the eye of the groom toward his bride on the wedding day. The other eye however has tears in it, not of disappointment in me, but of compassion toward a fallen world where evil reigns. In this eye, the tears are issuing the following challenge to me: “Won’t you help me make Jesus King where evil, death, sickness, torture, poverty, illiteracy, slavery, oppression, emptiness, corruption (need I go on?) now reigns?”

So we are going to Guatemala. Who knows what will happen with our hearts, but so far, we are finding empty places in there that we didn't even know existed and are starting to feel like they are filling up.