I guess I didn’t learn my lesson from my last mission trip where I attempted to do this thing called “physical labor,” because today I helped build a stone wall.
We’re building it two feet in front of the ruins of the old stone wall, which was knocked down from the earthquake of 2010, and then further destroyed from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
It was hard work! The sun constantly beat down on us as we carried buckets of mixed cement, and laid stone blocks, and built them up layer by layer.
I now have a much deeper respect for Nehemiah.
One of the cool things about this experience was that we worked side by side with Haitians. We couldn’t understand them, and they could barely understand us, but we somehow worked together to get a lot accomplished.
The Body of Christ is the same way.
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” (Romans 12:4-6)
We’re all different, with different stories, different passions, and different gifts. Yet we come together to serve God and one another. We love each other despite our differences, and we work though our differences because we know that God is glorified when we function as a unified body.
I can’t put into words how cool it was to work with Haitians on a project together, and how it made me even more in awe of the church that God has called me to pastor, and how God orchestrates all of these things for His glory.