“Compassion Jamaica”

“Because of the Lords great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” – Lamentation 3:22-23

A while ago I wrote about sacrificing comfort and living in away that denies all of our own selfish levels of what we want to do and giving our lives to God.  I thought I knew what stepping out of my comfort zone was, but upon returning from a mission trip to Jamaica I was definitely stretched in some pretty amazing ways.  I learned that when you experience God’s compassion for His children you are not only called to step out side of your comfort zone, but you are driven out of it by a deep conviction of His of love. I felt this surge of emotion while down at Sunbeam and have to share my experience of “Compassion Jamaica”.

My team was made up of nine specific God chosen people; all with their own unique talents and personalities.  To say that it was a random combination of people that clicked together is, in a way, underestimating God’s ability organize and plan our team with a purpose.  I believe that we were all called together for a purpose that is beyond our grasp.  We may have understood the concept of a mission trip and what we planned to accomplish, but in know way did we see how far or wide our mission impacted.  That is only in God’s hands.  As we combined each others abilities and talents we ended the week not only a unified team serving God, but students and learners of those boys. 

Compassion is a word with grit and depth to it.  It’s not simply a feeling of sorrow or remorse.  It’s a convicting blow to the heart.  Compassion is a feeling that is so real and deep we are not just moved emotionally or spiritually, but physically!  Compassion is the backbone of missions and the heart of spreading God’s word.  With out compassion any attempt to share the love of Jesus is futile. The word of God is not only a message of urgency and salvation, but that of love and compassion.  Jesus died on the cross because He had a raging love inside of His pure heart for our life.  Even through His beatings and being nailed to the cross He never went back on any of it.  He never gave up, because the compassion He had for us was so great it compelled Him to His death.  Amazing!

Many mission teams travel to Sunbeam to help them with different construction projects and fixing things.  The team I was a part of was a team of compassion with a mission of loving the boys at Sunbeam in anyway possible.  That included reading books to them, tie dying shirts with them, playing football outside in the hot sun, drawing, wrestling and just telling jokes.  No matter what our main goal and priority was to build and deepen relationships with those boys. 

It’s a joke to think that it’s possible to bring God into someone’s life or to some foreign country.  The truth is that God is already there!  He is in all of our lives, we are just not aware of it.  God is active in the lives of everyone.  How can He love the whole world and not be in each of our lives.  Being a missionary isn’t about carrying God to different countries or even to our back yard.  If anyone tried to do that they would exhaust themselves! God is so heavy!  The problem with thinking that God is absent from a place is that if He is not there before you get there… then there isn’t any “there” for you to go to! Being a missionary is about opening the eyes of the world to the real and true fact of God’s amazing and life-giving existence! We are called to tell of the good news in all parts of the world, not bring God into the world.  He is already there waiting to meet us where we are. 

My experience of compassion down there was one that changed my life.  Seeing the pain of broken families and scarred hearts didn’t just make me realize how blessed I am, but it made me long to give them hope and love. It has forever changed my heart and brought a whole new meaning to the love God has for “His children”. Even after over a week of loving them I am still not content.  Compassion is something that needs to be kept on giving.  My challenge to all of you is to remember that God has incredible faith in our abilities and calls us to be people who are capable of incredible things. If we open up to His call He will show us the short man in the tree hungry for more than money, He will show us the demon possessed man who is driven by sin, He will show us the women at the well and HE will show us a love worth dying for! So let us open up our hearts and receive God’s compassion and spread it to those around us. Praise God for is compassions, for they never fail!