Life is hard in the US

So we are still at this place called Guatemala, and it happens to be a country that is not America. We’ve been doing a couple different things around the town we are staying in, like helping out at the school, and a group of us have been building a cistern for the church in the area. We started digging a giant hole in the middle of a church, and now it’s about 10 feet deep and we are currently pouring cement. The thing about Guatemala is that it isn’t America. It is not the same country we live in. They get running water for an hour every other day, and we are building the cistern so they can store more water until they can fill it up again. The people here are wonderful and about 95% of the people are indigenous. Women still wear these crazy colorful costumes and carry stuff on their heads and it’s not even Halloween. Many people speak Catchi Kel and everyone speaks Spanish and there are some that speak English. I wrote the rest of this on day seven because we forgot to do the post and I forgot to finish this, but when I say today I mean the fifth day. I won’t write about day six or seven because someone else will and I don’t want to ruin it!

Today during devotionals, one Guatemalan told us that life in the states is way harder than life in Guatemala. Yeah, I know. That guy is crazy. We had just read through Matthew 6:19-34 and it dealt with not being anxious or worrying about things and stuff like that. The Guatemalan guy said that they never have to worry about mortgages or car payments and stuff like that. Just food and clothes. America has become a society that is corrupted by everyone who is telling us that satisfaction and success are measured by the amount of things you own. We are forced into thinking that we cannot be content unless we own the world, but the thing is, you will never be satisfied by constantly trying to get more. When we are always told we need more and more there will never be a point at which the need for more stops. Chasing after these earthly, perishable things all the time leads to emptiness, because they will all perish. These things are as good as gone. We know what will happen to all earthly things eventually. But there is only one thing that will never perish. Perishable materials can never fulfill the need for something eternal, and I’m beginning to think that people like the Guatemalans realize this with much more ease than we can.

That is what God has been showing us lately. It’s not that owning things is a bad thing; it’s just that these earthly things can easily get in the way of an eternal relationship with God. Especially when every unnecessary item has been lifted so high up and has been depicted as the key to happiness. Even things like intoxication, money, sexual immorality, and even apathy can be equated with happiness these days. My prayer for our nation is that our eyes be opened, and that we may even be purged from this non-stop consuming way of life that we sometimes live, or at least from this mentality that has distorted the truth and is holding so many back from restoration and peace. This way of living also affects everyone around the world. It’s not difficult to notice that there is currently a great imbalance in the world. Countries are overrun by poverty and starvation and many of us at times will choose to ignore this. Even in our own country, there is homelessness and poverty. In the cities we live in there is great poverty in areas. God has called us to be his hands and his feet and with this we humble ourselves to serve his kingdom by bringing life to the dead and healing to the sick and love to every person on earth through Christ who has given us everything. Because God so loved the world, we share this love with the whole world.

-Kelley Bader