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Homeward Bound

The team that set out at the beginning of the trip

With 50 dollars in my pocket, I set out on the biggest adventure (road trip) of my life thus far through Central and South America. After 426 days and 20 countries, I have returned to my homeland! Really, it’s hard for me to take in all that God has done in my life. God isn't some story in a book for me. I have seen Him show up in times of need and at other times just for fun. He is a loving father that takes care of me. He’s shown me that if He invites me to walk with Him, He will make a way for me to walk beside Him. I don't have to figure everything out on my own. He stays besides me and fathers me day and night. Through the times of joy or sorrow, He is forever near. I can’t get away from Him even if I try. He loves me that much. He is love, and He can’t but help but to be love to me. That is Him just being Himself. I have learned more in this last year than the five before it combined. Faith and love have been so carved into me. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” We receive everything in the kingdom of God through faith. And if we don't have love it doesn't matter what we are doing, even with the best of intentions.

Our trail around C.&S. America

What God is to me, I am to become and then be to others. I must follow the same way God loves, forgives, shows patience, doesn't keep record of wrongs, and isn't torn apart by what others see or don't see in Him. He isn't jealous or proud. He doesn't give up on others, but always hopes, always trusts, etc. After what God has shown me, I would be a hypocrite to give anything less to someone else. I find there often is a temptation to be a victim and hold onto the “that person did me wrong” card. If you want to hold onto that, read Matthew 17 and find out what you'll get. When people did Jesus wrong, he didn't act like it never happened. He saw the circumstance for what it was really worth. He confronted it and forgave and then moved on. But you never saw someone doing Jesus wrong and Jesus feeling too hurt and undone to still be love to them. Jesus knew and still knows who he truly is. He knows his identity. If I know mine, then I will be like-minded.

Sleeping while traveling up the amazon river.

And if I sin, my response won’t be condemnation, shame and guilt. Those are three things that never should be a part of a Christian’s life. We will only let those things get on us if we don’t know who we are. When I sin, my response will be something like this: “Father, I’m so sorry for not being who you say I am. Thank you that the old man has died by my faith in you. Thank you that you made my heart pure, or I wouldn’t have even cared that I just did that. Give me a deeper spirit of wisdom and revelation to know you better. I pray that I would have more of a ‘God reality’ step-by-step. If I see you clearly, then I can see myself clearly, and then I’ll see others clearly. Thank you that it’s you doing the work in me. In your name, amen.”

Ushuaia the city known as the end of the world.

I have come to know that I’m not just a sinner, but I am a once-lost son who’s been found. Now I’m not trying to stop sinning. I’m just being a son of God. For that’s the image that I was always made in, but I was born into a lie that I was anything else.

Our team gathered at Machu Picchu

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. “

We are made in His image; sin is something we needn’t worry about or even be concerned with. It’s no longer our master. We are free from it and have been restored. To identify with those old ways is just selling yourself short of what Jesus has finished and paid for. If we can see ourselves rightly, then we will love others for who they truly are. We can only give what we have first received. As we believe, we are given a new heart. This new heart loves--with a love that is fierce, aggressive, dangerous, bold, and willing to fight.

The last day with most of the team.

“Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.” (Romans 4:3, The Message)

Reread this, but insert your name in place of Abraham’s.

Abraham trusted God just like I put my faith in God to bring me around the world and take care of me. Do the same. Enter into what God is doing for you by trusting Him with your life. Trust me; that will be the turning point of your life.

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Ro 8:29-30

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Ro 4:3