I love people so much I'm fit to bust, sometimes

Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it. Psalm 109:26

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your Name give glory; because of Your love and because of Your faithfulness. Psalm 115:1

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Philippians 4:1

So I can pretty much relate to ol’ Paul these days. Except he was in prison and I am on summer vacation. Nicole just encouraged me to ride up A Mountain after swimming today, so I am all happy and showered and have a second cup of coffee. Which is not like Paul. But I do have lots of folks on my heart whom I love and long for. And reading Steinbeck very much makes me tenderhearted, as he details the aches of being human, of the hunger of a million souls, reaching, stumbling forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes.

And today as I pray for each one of you, there is this consideration, that through it all you may see His hand. And however He choses to will and to work in your life, that you will perceive it as His love and faithfulness, standing firm.

May His Name be glorified. 

Oh yeah, maybe a flashlight too.

My prayer for you is that you may have still more love—a love that is full of knowledge and wise insight. I want you to be able always to recognise the highest and the best, and to live sincere and blameless lives until the day of Jesus Christ. I want to see your lives full of true goodness, produced by the power that Jesus Christ gives you to the praise and glory of God. Philippians 4:1

Well my bags are packed.  The seven or eight tightly rolled up shirts. A couple boxes of wet wipes. The purple sleeping pad. Trash bags. My Spanish New Testament. A journal. Yes, I remembered my passport. Newspaper and flour and balloons for making piñatas. Sunscreen. A water bottle.

And my heart is bubbling up with joy as I consider the kiddos. The ones who were willing to push aside sleeping in late and texting and Instagram in exchange for clouds of dust and latrines that reek of disinfectant and no showers and lots of pato, pato, pavo, and a long bus ride there and back. All this for a glimpse of God at work–this is my prayer for them. May they may still have more love, because as is stamped across yet one more Mexico Outreach t-shirt: Love Never Fails.

It’s been a full few weeks…Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Highlands Ranch, Colorado. And now, El Buen Samaritano in Colonia Mayos in Mexicali. Pastor Humberto Palma R. who wants to serve all of the people. Particularly serving breakfast to the children. And teaching the Word of God to drug addicts and alcoholics and to everyone else. So we have our little dramas and our crayons and our soccer balls and even two lacrosse sets and three guitars, and who knows if there are sidewalks for our chalk. And we shall see what we shall see. Love Never Fails. That’s what is says across my t-shirt.