Just A Day At Work With My Dad

      First of all, I would like to apologize for two things: One, I apologize that I haven't written a blog for 2 months.  Two, I apologize for the length of this blog, it is exhaustive but the good news is you don't have to read it if you don't want to.
 

      Also, I would just like to say all the encouragement and support I have recieved from family and friends has been amazing!  God knows I need it and it comes at just the right times.  I am so thankful for each and every one of you.  I love you so much.
 

      As my time here comes to an end, I am thinking of a way to describe what this trip has been all about.  Although i cannot fully describe everything, i think an analogy will help you understand…
 

      You may or may not know that my dad is a carpenter.  He builds and remodels houses for a living.  Ever since I can remember, there would be times he would take me to work.  There would be multiple reasons he would take me; maybe to show me what he was working on and teach me a few things, or just to spend time with me.  He would say he needed my help, but he never really needed my help.  He would just tell me that so I felt like I was actually doing a lot.  Some days, I would even skip school to work with him.  Maybe I should have gone to school but he took me with anyway, because he knew there were some things that I would learn with him that I wouldn't learn in school.  Sometimes I really wanted to go with him, sometimes not so much.  Regardless, I would just watch him do what he does best while I was doing all the tiny little things I could do or he told me to do such as grab a nail gun, pick up some sheetrock, or hold a level.  I would watch him at work, most of the time having no clue what he was doing but always being amazed by how he could make something beautiful out of what appeared to me as nothing.  Sometimes I would be able to come back after that day of work with my dad to see the final job, but a lot of times I wouldn't.  At the end of the day, no matter how rough the job looked, I would always leave knowing that my dad would finish it.  When the day's work was done, I was ready to go home and share with my mom and my brothers that dad and I worked for hours.  I would feel like a real man even if i was only 8 years old. 
 

      That is exactly what these past 3 and a half months have been about.  They are just a day at work, not with my dad, but with my Dad, my Heavenly Father.  I was blessed enough to skip a semester of school to go with my Father and see what He is doing overseas.  Yes, I missed a lot of school and will have to catch up, and there have been numerous times I have questioned my decision to put off school, but He has shown me things and taught me things that I know I would never be able to learn at any university.  One of the most evident things I have experienced is His love in ways I haven't before this trip.  And just like with my dad, my Father doesn't really need my help here, but it is encouraging to know I am a part of what He is doing.  Here, I watch Him at work, sometimes it is easy to see Him move and other times not so much, but regardless of whether I can see Him or not, I know He is moving. I try to do the little things such as bring a smile to some childrens' faces, pray with them, laugh with them or throw them in the air, all the while accepting the fact that I can't change a human heart.  I can't heal what's broken.  Only God can do that, whether its through me or not.  To be honest, I still have no idea exactly what God is up to here but I know it is something far better than anyone could imagine and He will not leave His work unfinished.  He's got blueprints and nothing will stop Him.  I  am so thankful that He is at work in way more places than just the Philippines, including you and me.  Anyway, it is about that time for me to go home. But I realize I am just like a little kid who comes home after working with his dad, knowing that as much as I'd like to think I changed the world, I was just one crazy blessed, little kid who got to go to work with my Dad.  I will obviously share a lot about my experience, but it would be humorous if I acted like some big shot missionary and bragged about things I did, when in reality I am just like that little kid, still unbelievably amazed at what my Dad can do. 
 

      Allow me to return to the topic of carpentry one last time.  If you get one thing from this blog, remember this:  a hammer cannot boast about how many houses it has built.  Without the carpenter, it can't do a thing.  This is a parallel to what Jesus said in John 15:5.  Apart from Him, I can do nothing.  Apart from Him, I am nothing.  I can't change a single life, only God can do that.  It is very humbling and I consider it a great honor to be another hammer in Gods hands here.  With saying that, and thinking about coming home and telling people what I did, I really hesitate to use the words "mission trip".  I hope I am not misunderstood. (I am not an author and I struggled in English class so bear with me.)  I am not saying this is true about missionaries at all but from my experience, especially with a lot of different groups visiting the ministry I am living at, there are still a few people who portray their "mission trip" in such a way that one would guess they are trying to earn their look-what-I'm-doing-for-Jesus badge or something.  Yes, I know this organization is called Adventures in Missions, but it's not about this organization either.  I feel like in our culture today, people who go on mission trips are praised.  As long as all the glory and honor goes to God, I'm not one to say if someone should be praised or not, but i would like to raise one question: What about my brothers and my friends in school, who are impacting the kingdom just as much, if not more than I am?  They don't get a blog like this.  What they're doing isn't broadcast to everyone who knows them, they just love God and could care less about people knowing what they're doing.  

      (Sorry. Last paragraph, I promise) I just want to make it clear that all these blogs I have written (all 5 of them, sorry about that) have been for you, so even though I'm on the other side of Pacific Ocean, you can know a little bit about what is going on here.  This blog is NOT about me broadcasting what I'm doing here, as if I'm saying "Hey guys, look! I'm earning my Jesus badge in the missions field".  That's actually really funny to even think about, but I just want to make sure it never comes across like that.  I have John 3:30 on my wrist to remind me, it's not about me, it never has been.  Sure I have learned a lot and God has shaped me, but even this blog, it's all about Him. What it all comes down to: the point of my life is to point to Him.

 

"He must become greater, and I must become less."
John 3:30