I recently had the opportunity to travel to Honduras on a mission trip with Lifeline Christian Mission. This was my first international missions trip in what I hope will be a long line. Experiencing a different culture and different people really broadens one's perspective on life. We all know that there are millions of other people on this world and that they live differently than us, some more differently than others. I know that not all the world looks like the fields upon fields of corn and beans we have here in Ohio. I think we know these things, but we don't understand them or realize them. Until we see them. I also saw how similar people are, no matter where they live or what culture they are in. Children run and play and laugh and smile no matter where you are. Adults work and talk and take delight in their children no matter where you are. Teenagers goof off and chat and do stupid things together no matter where you are.
But there is also heartache and pain no matter where you are. There are lonely people, people who feel like they are alone in this world. There are children who don't have loving hands to guide them no matter where you are. There are people who despair of life, who don't think they can get ahead. There are selfish people, evil people, and angry people. Everywhere.
Take hope! Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world! (1John 4:4) Satan is at work in this world, in Honduras, in America, in China, everywhere! He has been working since the beginning of the creation of people. But take hope! Jesus is greater than him! It doesn't matter where you are. Satan's demons are working, clawing away at the hope that is available for everyone. But you don't have to be afraid of he who is in the world. You don't have to lose hope that good will prevail. You don't have to doubt that he will be defeated. Because He who is in me, who is in you, is greater than he who is in the world. He is greater!
No matter where you go in this world, you will find Jesus. He is everywhere. You just have to look for Him. Because it may not be easy to see Him. Sometimes evil seems so prevalent that we can't believe that God is there. Sometimes we are feeling so overwhelmed that we can't see Him, but that doesn't change reality. He is there. No matter where 'there' is. He is there. And He is greater.
~Michaela
