So for some reason, well actually because I watched Night at the Museum, I have been really motivated to read up on some history, which is not a big stretch for me- I love history. I looked on our library’s website for some books about our 26th President of these United States: Theodore Roosevelt. Now I am not a fast reader, at all, I always read for comprehension and will reread things if necessary so why I checked out two books is beyond me but anyway, the book I am reading now is called Lion in the White House. At this point in my reading I am thinking that based on the scientific reasoning Roosevelt applied to life that his Christianity was limited to Sunday in church but on the page after the dedication I read a quote:
“It is not the critic who counts…The credit belongs to the man
in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the
great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who
at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and
who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
These words seemed to ring out to me as we continue down the path of becoming missionaries to Guatemala. We are in the trenches before the trenches and honestly these seem to be the hardest but they are the most rewarding…seeing individual people respond to what God has laid on our heats is amazing, to see them excited and actually desire to come down to Guatemala is only something God has done. Now while the above mentioned quote gives “credit…to the man in the arena” we all know that God alone can receive the credit, even while our faces are “marred by dust and sweat and blood” we still give God the glory because He alone gave us the heart to serve another culture and as I Timothy 1:5 states: “The aim of our charge is love that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Even in the midst of slow representation we still believe that God has, is and will provide the financial, prayer and emotional needs that we have as we make this journey. This year in our high school baseball season we made a very slow start winning only 2 games out of 9, and we only lost two seniors. We were also district 5-1A champs last year. I am not stating this for gloating reasons (there is a point); I am stating this because last night we won our district title again and currently are 7-0 in our district with two games remaining. We took the failures of the past games and learned from them and have been on a 7 game winning streak that I believe will, through the power of God who has given us the talent to coach, play and cheer, end when we win the State 1A championship. Our young men, whose faces are marred with dust and sweat and blood, know the great enthusiasms and the failures. We too know that same feeling in our representation process and we believe that only through God will we leave the state for a new title: Missionary!
The last line of that quote brings it all home, while I do not believe we will fail we are daring greatly! We are going against the grain of all that American culture has taught us as products of the 80's, 90's. We love where God is taking us and we cannot wait, but we must; we are scheduled by the only Being who can speak an entire universe into existence and while we are currently marred with blood, sweat and tears, they are simple reminders that God is still working on us, with us, through us and for us!
