Allow me to start by giving my apologies for being an
absentee blogger. I can't believe I haven't blogged for over 5 months. I've
posted lots of pictures and stories to Facebook but the blogging, well I just
wasn't feeling it. I had started 3 different blogs but never finished them and
ended up deleting them. I had a case of writers block.
That said; let’s see if number 4 is the charm.
Being so far from home unfortunately has not shielded us from
the unrest, racial tensions and just general lack of faith in some institutions
(our police forces and government) in our beloved country. I’m not naïve enough
to think that these issues are just a passing thing or that they are
unjustified. But, as many have and should point out (I’ll get to it also) that
we can’t focus or look at our differences if we think we are going to solve
these problems together.
Let me share a couple of situations that caused me to step
back and think.
We recently had a new well built in our community by Living
Waters International because of the generous donations of New Song Church of
Prairieville, Louisiana. A group of their parishioners including their pastor
came down to help in the construction. They worked hard in this Salvadoran heat
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IUDNMlKW1U)
to bring a constant supply of clean water to El Maizal. They were as pleasant
as could be to the people of our community, especially the children and thanked
us over and over again for our sacrifice as missionaries. I never heard them
complain about anything even though for most of them it was the 1st
time they’ve ever been to El Salvador and trust me there are things to complain
about in El Salv………, never mind. But do you get my point, what a great group of
people. By the way they are Methodists.
So what do I do? One night I go online and look up
Methodists because I want to know what they are about. I start reading and I’m
thinking OK, I like that, Hmmmmmmm, I don’t know about that and it continues
until a light goes off in this cavernous head of mine. TOM, you already know
what Methodists are. They are pleasant, hardworking people who are willing to
sacrifice time and money for others, they don’t complain, they appreciate the
sacrifice of others before their own sacrifice and they do it all in the name of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Why was I looking them up and reading about
their faith putting my own judgment on their belief system and if I continued
possibly putting those judgments onto them??? Because, I wasn’t recognizing
what was right in front of me. They are who they are, described by the way they
practice their faith through actions. THAT’S
WHO METHODISTS ARE!!
Now then, I’m glad I caught myself on that. So then, poor
Dianne has been sick for almost 7 weeks now. She started with Chikungunya whose
fever left after a week but the constant body pain continued, then the fever
came back and she was diagnosed with a bladder infection. She’s not a good
patient because she hates not being able to help out but the only solution is
constant rest. Sooooooooo, where am I going with this? We have a dear friend
who works near our house every day. When she became aware of Dianne’s health
problems she volunteered to wash our clothes for us. I offered to pay her but
she refused, she said we are friends, paying her would be an insult. So she comes twice a week and washed our
clothes by hand. I pitifully help but she does most of the work. Keep in mind
her days start at 4 AM, so she can wash her own clothes, cook breakfast for the
family, get her family going for the day, she goes to work for 4 or 5 hours
till noon. Takes a 2 or 3 hour break (after making lunch) and then comes to do
back breaking work at our house. By the way she’s a Jehovah Witness.
Soooo, we all know that feeling when we hear Jehovah Witness
(no Christmas, no Halloween, no celebrations, what the heck). But that wasn’t
enough for me, I had to go online and see what she and her faith were about. I
started reading and was thinking, I don’t know about this, this sounds kind of
crazy to me when the light bulb went off again. TOM, WHAT ARE YOU
DOING????????? You know what a Jehovah Witness is. They are the type of people
who put their own comforts aside for their family, they work endlessly to keep
their lives and the lives of their families going smooth and when they are
exhausted from a long hard day, they sacrifice even more for friends. She was doing in the name of her Lord. Why
was I reading about them only reinforcing the stereotype I had in my head?????
I already knew by witnessing with my own eyes what a Jehovah Witness was. They
are who they are, described by the way they practice their faith through
actions (sound familiar). THAT’S WHO JEHOVAH’S ARE!!
For a guy who reads the Letter of James at least every
couple of months, you’d think I’d get it by now. So here I was amongst great
people doing great things in the name of God and twice I fell into the trap.
Was it my Tempter (if you don’t get that reference read the Screw tape Letters
by C.S. Lewis, ASAP). I was looking at our differences. Thanks be to God, I
caught myself those times but will I next? As my Jehovah friend pointed out
once as we did wash together “Tom, humans are imperfect” (Can I get an AMEN).
Let me try to pull this all together. Looking for and
recognizing the differences between us, is a real fast way of creating us and
them scenarios, not a great way to work out solutions to complex problems. What
do we have in common? We’re all human, we’re all imperfect, we all have our
great moments and our shameful ones but we’re all Brothers and Sisters in
Christ.
En la paz de Dios
Tom y Dianna Wilson
But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother,
and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he
said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my
Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
