Do Something

You could say I’ve “grown up” in Juárez.  I’m actually from a town outside of Atlanta, Georgia, but I’ve been living on the border for over 10 years now.  I moved here straight out of college, having already served with Casas por Cristo in some capacity previously for two years.  That’s why I say I’ve “grown up” here.  I feel like most of what I’ve learned about loving God and serving and loving others I’ve learned here. 

There have been highs and lows throughout the years.  There have been some years where I’ve spent more nights in Mexican churches than in my bed at home.  There have been other years that I have longed to spend more time across the border serving.  These last three years have also had their share of highs and lows.  As the world knows, Juárez is the “most dangerous city in our hemisphere.”  This is very much sensationalized and exaggerated, but people believe what they believe.  A drug war has raged between cartels for control of drug trafficking into the U.S.  There have been thousands of murders and other crimes committed.  The saddest part of it all is the people affected the most aren’t the ones fighting in this war.  Those suffering the most are the people in the margins; the poor, the neglected, the forgotten, the very people that we are called to served.  They are affected because industries are packing up and moving out, there are no jobs, and the image of their city is scaring away people that help them.

This becomes more and more evident every time we cross the border to build homes.  There are still teams that aren’t afraid to come and heed the call to serve the people of Juárez.  I recently served alongside a crew from First Baptist Church of North Kansas City.  They are a great group of folks, never wavering in their calling to the Mexican people.  What struck me the most about this week was the amount of families that wandered up to the job site asking how they too can receive a home.  I was blown away.  A conservative estimate would be that 15 different families in four days came asking how they can receive the help they need to literally survive.

It really made me think.  Why did God place me where He did?  Why do I have so much and these people have so little in comparison?  Am I more valuable as a person than they are to deserve God’s blessings?  Couldn’t I have just as easily been born in their shoes?

These are legitimate questions, with real answers that have real consequences.  I was placed where I was placed to be a blessing to others, plain and simple.  I am NOT more valuable to God, or anyone else for that matter, just because I’m an “American” born into a life of plenty.  So what does this mean then?  To me, it means there is no other calling on my life than to be grateful for what God has given me, physically and spiritually, and to use that to bring glory to Him by serving others. There is so much need around the world, in Juárez, and in your community.  Do something about it.  You are here to make a difference.  Use the life that you've been given.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men doing nothing.” – Edmund Burke

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”
  2 Timothy 1:7