Mexico Trip 2024 Travel Day

 

Travel Day – July 4, 2024
Today was a long day of travel, but it was good. Most of the team set their alarms for 5 something in the morning. If they are like me, they hit the snooze at least once. Somehow it never seems like there is enough time in the morning to get everything done and leave on time, with the “oh am I forgetting something” anxiety looming. Yet we all arrived at the Delta counter in Cleveland at 7:30 am and checked our bags. We were worried about the security line being long on a holiday, but it was the shortest TSA line I had ever seen in Cleveland. We walked right through and had plenty of time to gather ourselves before our first flight.

The flight spacing was timed just about perfectly. Plenty of time to get where we needed to go, and the layovers went by fast. 4 cities, 3 planes, 2 layovers, and 11 hours later we arrived here safely. Praise the Lord! Traveling together is a great bonding experience and good conversations have already begun. However, it was a long day and there is a 2-hour time difference. We arrived at this amazing AirBnB that God provided and had some pizza and tacos for a late dinner.

 

It was wonderful reuniting with Kayla and Jocsan Morales and their family. Zeke is precious and it was a joy holding him for the first time. It was a beautiful beginning to our trip. 

 

Right after pizza and tacos, some could not resist jumping in the pool immediately after. I looked around and saw some dirty dishes and thought about Christ’s example of washing feet. This is a good opportunity to lead with a towel. I picked up one dish after another and began washing plates, bowls, and cups. Kayla Kemer saw me doing the dishes and joined me in serving. This is the kind of thing I like to do to challenge my inner pride. It can be tempting to think that I deserve to sit and relax because I am leading this trip. Yet, that is not what my Savior did, he washed feet.

Jesus said, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26–28 ESV). Jesus’ upside-down kingdom can seem at odds with what comes most naturally to our understanding, but following his path leads to life, abundant life (John 10:10). This is what our theme devotional is all about on this trip. John the Baptist stated, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Whether you are on a mission trip or at home if you are a follower of Christ you are called to serve. It sounds exhausting and crazy, but you will find it to be so rewarding and rejuvenating when you serve others like Christ. Tim Keller wrote a short booklet called The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness, where he discusses the Christian’s motive for being a servant,

“Do you realize that it is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance? The atheist might say that they get their self-image from being a good person. They are a good person and they hope that eventually they will get a verdict that confirms that they are a good person. Performance leads to the verdict. For the Buddhist too, performance leads to the verdict. If you are a Muslim, performance leads to the verdict. All this means that every day, you are in the courtroom, every day you are on trial. That is the problem. But Paul is saying that in Christianity, the verdict leads to performance.”

In God’s economy, you don’t serve others to gain favor with God. Instead, when you are In Christ you are made new by the finished work of Christ, and from a grateful heart, you live like Christ. We want to learn how we are to decrease in a way that causes Jesus to increase in our present circumstances. Pray for us this week as we will be challenged to decrease, humble ourselves, and serve others in the name of Jesus.