Bigger Than You Know

One of the things that I love about God is that God's plans are always bigger than anybody can know.  So I come to Jamaica thinking, it's just a church placement, right?  I'll shadow the pastor, preach, do  VBS, you know, all the regular church stuff.  No problem, mon, that works for me.  Right?  Well almost right.... I do all the regular church stuff but, I have shared my own story and testimony more times than I can now count.  That is significant because my story has so many layers that when I share with someone or with the congregation, I uncover different details.  (That is one reason that I tend to record my sermons and talks now because as I talk about it, I'm regaining memory and clarity.)  So anyway, we are studying Jeremiah in bible study, and in making comparison to the doom of Jeremiah's prophecy a young lady insists that the devastation of Haiti was an act of God's judgment and pastor suggests that she didn't believe that was so.  The exchange goes back and forth, back and forth, and I'm sitting down taking in the comments.  So my eyes are looking something like this...

Then something like this...

I am both amazed and amused by the passion with which they both speak.  Soooooo....  later in the day, I am with the young lady who believes Haiti is under judgment from God said to me,  "You don't like confrontation, do you?  You didn't say anything today."  I really tried to smile quietly and move forward, but she persisted about how people have to "stand up for the Lord, and speak their convictions, blahbadee, blah, blah..."  Now I'm a feeling a bit agitated and I tell her this story (which, I've share with no one but my husband and my SD group).

I have had a glimpse of eternity and I have seen the Master face-to-face (of course, you know this is a metaphor but the only way I know to describe my near death experience).  This is what I learned when I was graciously returned to my body to dwell on earth:  Nothing is more  important than loving the Lord with all your mind, soul, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself for it is love that fulfills the law and without love, I am nothing.  We truly see through a glass dimly, at our very best.    So the long and short of it all is that I am amazed at what I am learning about Jamaican culture and myself too.