NICARAGUA (Part 3)

CONTINUED.....

The vendor. One man probably impacted my trip in Nicaragua more than any other. He was a slender guy, probably in his early twenties. I saw him on my first day in Diriamba. Mentally, he was a little lower functioning than most adults. He carried a bag of candy, selling 2 pieces for a small coin. As he stepped onto our bus, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Our eyes met and locked. There was nothing physically striking about him, but there was something defining in his spirit. His gaze held an assurance, innocence, and a peace I hadn’t seen.

With street noises, vendors shouting, and people talking on the bus, he began to sing. His voice wasn’t clear or strong or even beautiful. But, I was struck again. I didn’t know what he was singing but I had to listen. Then, he proceeded to sell his candy. Most people ignored him. After he left, I couldn’t get the humbling image of him out of my mind.

Days later, on another bus at another location, he stepped on. The same bag of candy was in his hands. This time it was a lot emptier. My heart sank when I saw this. It had been days and he hadn’t even sold all of the candy in his bag. How did he live off of less than 50 cents a day? He was in the same stained white shirt. And, then he sang. Above all the noise on the bus, he sang.

I turned to Kari and asked what he was singing about. She looked at me, “He says that God is the only thing that can satisfy man. He sings praise to God before he sells his candy.”

Here was a man who rose every morning to wander the streets and vend for not even enough to survive and he praised God. I found myself purchasing candy from him. I didn’t want the candy but I had to do something.


My heart cried out. “God, he is yours! He praises You when he has nothing. I am discontent when I have more than enough.” I continued to pray as we stepped off the bus and into the streets. I found myself praying that like the woman in the Bible whose oil never ran out, God would provide for this young man. That he would always have enough. His heart was so pure.


I smiled as I thought of his treasure in heaven. How foolish are we. Those who appear of little value in our world are the closest and dearest to God’s heart.


I could say so much more about my trip, but little could a book hold what God started in me. I faced trials like getting robbed, getting a parasite, being eaten alive by mosquitoes, taking freezing cold showers, and sweating day and night. It was not the most comfortable place to be. Yet, somehow I walked away fuller. Despite all the bad, God was there. God loves Nicaragua and the people in it. God continued to put the desire of missions in my heart.


It would be easy to go home, make good money, live well, be comfortable but I would be missing the fullness of what God can do in me. God doesn’t need me to impact the world. I can offer nothing to His cause, but I am held in awe by how He longs for me. He wants to use me…. Me of all people! Nicaragua was a first step, a glimpse into what He can do.


In Plato’s “Republic”, there is a cave analogy. In it people have spent their whole lives being chained to a cave wall. Shadows from a fire cast on the wall are their only reality. They are unaware of anything outside of the cave and those shadows. I realized at that point, my life was only a partial truth. I had only lived in a fraction of what the world is really like, of what people really experience. I could crawl back into the cave and be comforted by my mere shadows or I can face the world outside. To grow in the fullness of drawing closer to the heart of God. This is where I want to live.