With trust comes peace.

25 Sep With trust comes peace.

Hey everybody out there reading this on the interweb! My name is Ross Allen and this is my Summer Staff blog post about my time and experiences while in Honduras this summer. I have had many people ask me about my trip to Honduras this summer, questions regarding what I did, what I ate, if I had fun, and if I saw any wild animals… but most importantly, I keep getting asked what I learned. Which is a great question, but also a very difficult one to answer quickly, because it’s hard to summarize and explain all that the Lord shows you and teaches you in several months to a person in a time frame that often occurs in less than two minutes. This is why I am thankful for this post because it gives the opportunity to explain and go in depth about what I learned.

To start I learned a lot about a lot. I learned about germinating and growing grass (Bermuda grows great in Honduras), and even more about water purification. I learned how to check and see if meats are cooked to a safe eating temperature (shoutout Chef Steve Rose), and that I have a long ways to go in regards to learning Spanish. More than any of this though, the Lord taught me that I am not in control; this truth he has unveiled to me before, yet I tend to be very stubborn so this is a reoccurring theme that he has given me many different lessons on.

This summer was very difficult for me, with events happening state-side with family and friends, along with some of the hardships we faced in Honduras. The Lord made it very apparent that I am not in control and without him am capable of very, very little. Last year on the blog I believe I shared about the story in Luke, of Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary and how while there he taught Martha that you can focus on many earthly desires and tasks but that only he matters. For some reason, I feel very similar to Martha and Mary, I see myself in them a lot, especially Martha. I also tend to not always understand the Lord’s plans and ask him questions about what is going on and why.

This summer another story involving them was really on my heart, except this one is in John, and Jesus ends up resurrecting Lazarus. In short, Lazarus dies and Martha and Mary call for Jesus before Lazarus had died and Jesus waits until four days after he passed away to resurrect him and bring him back to life. Once he finally does come Martha gets the chance to speak to him outside of town before Jesus does this and essentially says “I called for you long before he was dead… you could have saved him and I don’t really understand, yet still I trust you and know you are sovereign.” For me there where many times this summer when I would be out on the back porch late at night praying to the Lord in the glow of the Circle K light and essentially repeating those same lines: “Lord I don’t understand, this doesn’t make sense… but I still love you and long to be with you.” In essence, Jesus waits four days till after Lazarus had died so that when he resurrected him everyone would recognize that he was truly, completely, stone-cold dead and that that Jesus guy really did bring him back to life. He works the same way in our lives today, in the moment things often don’t make sense whatsoever; but he is who he says he is, and will receive the glory he deserves. It just turns out we get this really cool opportunity to show it and share with others about the impacts he has made in our lives and how we receive this gift of peace when trusting in him.

Thanks for reading and have a great Monday!

Dios te bendiga!

-Ross Allen