What does Jesus mean when He talks about having "ears to hear?" Sure, He wants us to listen to His words, but don't we all have ears to hear? Isn't that what ears do? Perhaps He's talking about ensuring that our ears can actually "hear" His words, His voice, not just that they can receive the sound waves. Maybe this is a desperately needed reminder to turn down the volumes of distractions in our lives so that our ears can fully hear Jesus.

            Being so blessed with comforts and an easy lifestyle here in San Juan, we have failed to truly experience the lifestyle and inherent struggles of the people with whom we are building relationships. Drawing on my experience from past mission trips, where living more simply, like the people of the community, had a major impact on our ability to engage them in love and compassion, I quickly realized we were unknowingly creating a block to our ministry with these people.

            Thankfully, God gave me a positive venue to present this discovery to the two teams with whom I am working. Now, obviously we know that God can work in people's lives no matter what the circumstances are. Nevertheless, our greatest growth always seems to happen when we are not operating within our normal conditions, doesn't it? When we choose to live at our limits, God just seems to show up in ways unbeknownst to us. Whenever we cut something out of our regular routine, this inevitably pushes us to pay more attention to God. American culture is dominated by immediate gratification and availability. To deny ourselves of such extravagant convenience then, even if only in part, greatly heightens our ears' ability to hear God. It's just like when you run or play a sport barefoot. You pay a lot more attention to where you step and how use your feet so that you don't hurt them. Without shoes, you have a heightened awareness of your surroundings. The same thing happens when you take off your "shoes" of comfort and convenience.

            My team and the one with whom we are working agreed to see what God would do if we took these "shoes" off for 48 hours. The challenge was to not use personal money or eat food that we had purchased with it, so as to eat only on our team budget. In addition, we agreed to cut our 4 hour siesta (afternoon break time) in half, since it had become easy for people to "hide" in the house and not engage with the people of San Juan.

            On the first day, God totally made the most of my choice to spend more time in the community, as our friend in Guatchtupita (our ministry neighborhood) invited my man Robby and I for lunch after ministry was finished and the rest of our teams had left. It was a blessed time in which God humbled us in our perspective on food, as we were well fed by a poor woman who had enough trouble putting food on her own plate. In addition, the joy that encased her face as she performed such a service of love for us attested that it was not simply a nice gesture. This was a moment when the boundaries of age, culture, language, and social class were dispelled and the Spirit of God united us around the table, a place of universal significance. Such experiences allow you to taste the reality that, in the presence of God, nothing can hinder true fellowship and unity between human beings. This is when ministry and just pure, God-intended interactions happen. Obviously, God was responding with blessing to our decision to live at our limits for this time.

            Amongst other blessings in our ministry and community time, God also opened new doors for my team during this time of living in uncharted territory. During our feedback and reflection time as a group on the second day, we reached unprecedented levels of sharing and wholehearted communication. We talked more than we ever had about our thoughts, frustrations, and insights from our ministry, a conversation that sparked our gradual realization of our collective purpose in ministry in San Juan. New emotional connections were established and the line between team and family finally began to blur; a process which has rapidly increased in the past 2 weeks.

 

            These examples may not be groundbreaking, but their occurrence and the impact they have had demonstrates that God exposes more of the kingdom and its truths when we live at our limits.