I don’t know how to begin.

I figured that was the most effective way for me to begin my Guatemala recap because frankly I’ve been sitting here for a few minutes and this post isn’t going to write itself.

D and I spent the last week in Guatemala. We weren’t alone and we weren’t on vacation although I have already been asked about my vacation to Tanzania. I suppose I don’t expect everyone to know what were doing, but to clear any discrepancies, we were not in Africa on vacation.

We spent the week working alongside some amazing students and leaders working with ministries that serve some of the poorest areas of Guatemala City. I stepped into this trip because I’d started meeting with some high school seniors at our church with Amy Ann. D has been working with some high school juniors since they were in eighth grade. His guys jokingly say they’d hazed D when he first started meeting with them, but I’m so proud of him for sticking it out. I’m learning that for guys heckling can be a love language, which means these guys really love each other.

This was my fourth trip to Guatemala since being a junior in high school myself. I’ve walked into it in several phases of life, but I’ve never walked away with a clearer picture of Christ’s love for the church. For many of you reading this, my prayer is that what I share makes you uncomfortable, uncomfortable in a way that challenges you to start figuring out what you believe, uncomfortable in a way that allows you to question God so He can prove himself to you.

Here’s what I know with every fiber of my being to be the truth and the greatest news for every person:

We’ve messed up. We don’t deserve what we have. We can’t make it right.

We can’t make it right because the only person that could was Christ. He never messed up. He deserved everything, but lost it all so that He could make us right.

Stop running from Him. Stop striving to live a good life and rest in the freedom that’s He’s offering since He’s already made everything good.

The students we worked with this week get it. They’re asking questions and they’re seeking to know Him. They want their lives to represent the freedom that they have so that others’ can understand the Gospel. They’ve inspired me to be bolder which is why I’m using this post to share in my own simple way what Christ has done for me and for you.

My heart is that my own unperfect life would make much of the One who saved me.