Mexico to America

It's been about three weeks since I returned from Mexico (got home Sunday, July 23).

What an awesome trip.

And a difficult three weeks.

It's interesting: when God does something amazing in our life, Satan is right there to whisper in our ears: "you know that awesome thing that just happened? it meant nothing!"

Satan is wrong, but he still whispers; sometimes he yells.

This sort of thing happens when people first except Jesus as their one and only master and the one who can save them. The days and weeks after are not necessarily a honeymoon. The evil one would like nothing better than to make accepting Jesus seem invalid.

Satan would love to make this trip, and everything my wife and I have give to youth ministry, seem invalid. Satan is wrong.

In Mexico, I saw people living on a tenth of what we have who honestly don't need what we have. Many of them have something better--a practice of valuing community, people, church, and God more than most Americans.

I hope to add more stories and pictures later, but for now, I'll write down the two biggest lessons I learned:

1. Nothing is more important that God...and I need to live that way. It's a truth I knew in my mind, and sometimes tried to live out. However, if I were to be honest, there have been far too many times where I treated my own selfish whims and wants as more important than God. It's time for that to stop. God really does matter more than anything else. A life lived with God truly at the center is the best kind of life.
2. America is a third world country. Spiritually. In many ways, Mexico is what we consider a third world country. But in truth, America is worse off. People in America can be so much more easily distracted by our stuff and our busyness. People in America can be so much more easily distracted from what actually matters: God first, then family and other people, then all that other stuff. In Mexico I saw that value lived out more than I do here at home. America is the true--and perhaps the toughest--mission field.