The Hook
This summer, I was able to go on my first mission trip outside of the United States. Every year, our youth group goes to the City of Children in Ensanada, Mexico, where they conduct two Vacation Bible Schools; one for the youngest kids and one for all the school age children. They also complete a service project, do benevolence work out in the city, and play with the kids from the orphanage. I’m not going to lie: It is hard work!
In the interest of full disclosure, the original reason I signed up for this trip was because our son, Luke, wanted to go and there was no way I was letting my child out of the country without a parent! Now, I have always been supportive of mission work, but I have been content to be the one holding down the home front while others did the traveling to unfamiliar places and cultures. But this time, whether I was ready or not, I was all in. I wasn’t afraid of the hard work or even of being in a different country, but I was apprehensive about possibly not being able to handle all the differences I would face.
Long story short … I loved it! I worked harder physically than I have in a long time. I ate with teenagers who delighted in pretending to not understand me and then giggled with their friends about the “Americano” who truly couldn’t understand them. When I laid down at night, I hurt. But I loved it. Why?
The hook. In my case, the main hook is named Leo, a 5-year-old with special needs. I had other “hooks” named Hector, Katia, Raysson, and Juan. On my day for benevolence, I met some adult “hooks” named Emilee, Sarah, Sarai and Rosario. Luke’s main hook is Josstin. The “hook” is the reason you will go back, year after year, to do exhausting work with people you can’t completely understand.
And then it hit me. I am the hook for God.
You are the hook for God. We all are the hook for God. Why else would He send His holy, perfect Son to die for us? [John 3:16] The hook is love. Just as I left pieces of my heart in Mexico, God sent the best piece of His heart to earth so that one day we can live in heaven with Him and not be separated anymore.
I learned that laughter and smiles are universal. So are hugs and worship in spirit and truth. Those members of the Lord’s church in Ensanada share the same faith in God and hope of heaven as those of us here in Cookeville (or wherever you may be). But the greatest thing is the hook: love.
1 John 4:7-10 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 Cor. 13:13b “…but the greatest of these is love.”
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NOTE: The picture above is not of Leo. For safety’s sake, we cannot post his picture online. The photo used above is a free stock picture from freeimages.com, where we get most of our pictures for the site.
