A Piece of God´s Creation

Aren´t weekends meant for rest and relaxation? This past weekend was FAR from restful and relaxing. It was an adventure of a lifetime. Fully of ziplining through the forest, to zurfing at the beach, church, and visiting the largest active volcanoe in Costa Rica, I´d say God´s creation is beyond words.

 But being here only three weeks with a new culture, new ´tico´family, a week of cultural orientation, and finishing up the second week of language tutoring, everything finally is beginnig to feel normal. Each day, interacting with the locals, trying a new restaurant, a new dish, and learning to becaome a part of the Costa Rican has been a humbling and growing experience.  As daily living with a ´tico´ family and as my spanish improves, I am able to communicate on a deeper level with the people of Costa Rica. As the culture shock is wearing off and God begins to show glimpses of His diverse glory and creation I continue to stand amazed.

As I begin to learn and adapt to the Latino culture, God continues to break down and humble habits, predjudices, expections, and lifestyles that were once familiar to me. Though this new culture, language, and set of rules if far and vast fom my comprehension this is not far from what God does in people´s lives throughout history. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 19-23:

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

May we become assimilated into the place that God has us and will lead us into. This idea of understanding, learning, and living the way the people do in order to make the gospel known. This isn´t far from the idea of ´Love your neighbor (or enemy) as youself.¨ As we see things done differently, as worldviews and cultural norms begin to clash, how do I respond? Am I responding in love and understanding, or in bitterness and malice?  And am I understanding the grace that God talks about in Ephesians 2: 8-10.  And might i understand God´s unlimited capacity, trusting His plan, that I am ¨God´s workmanship, created to do good works, in which GOD prepared in advance for (me).¨