After an early morning and 9+ hours of travel, we arrived in Guatemala, still somehow in the morning (local time, but still!) The long day was no match for our excitement to finally be here. We spent the day and are staying the night on the grounds of a seminary campus here in Guatemala City. Tomorrow we will finish our journey to San Lucas Toliman where we will be serving the rest of our time here. It is refreshing to start the week with some downtime. Time for reflection. Time to bond as a team. Time to revel in the fact that we are where we should be. Time to consider where it is we are going this week.
Tonight we met on the covered rooftop of the seminary building for another time, what we call "porch time". Each night we will gather, we will debrief, we will consider God's Word, and we will reflect on what Jesus is teaching us through the opportunities and experiences we encounter. As we took a post-travel pause before our service-filled sprint this week, we looked to a time when Jesus took a pause on his way to a busy week. We looked at the night Jesus was betrayed from the perspectives shown in Luke 22 and John 13. We considered that on what was to be a monumental night, two things happened. The disciples argued about who was the greatest among them, and Jesus, being the greatest among them, washed their feet. Jesus, on his way to die on the cross for their sins, for your sins, and my sins, stopped and washed their feet.
Tonight, we stopped and washed each other's feet. To be honest, it was awkward, and vulnerable, and uncomfortable, and it was needed. We needed to feel the story that we so often read and gloss over. We needed to be reminded that there is a bigger backdrop to our lives than we often see. That our God gave of Himself and laid down his life while we were busy looking at ourselves instead of others, instead of at Him!
Philippians 2:1-11 encourages us to have a new mindset. To share Jesus' mindset. We head into this week empowered to serve. Excited to serve. Ready to serve fully in the time we have been given in this beautiful place.
More tomorrow,
The Guatemala Team
