Team Gozo Day Six (Friday)

The Distraction of “Reality”

     What is reality? The bills? Work? Our commitments? Looking good? Having a lot of money? A lot of stuff? Well, these things are part of the “reality” that a lot of us, especially from super-prosperous nations, live in. We are taught that we need more, despite the enormous amount of stuff we have. We may feel like we do not have a lot but that is only because people with “more” have ridiculous amounts. The curve is much higher in a place like the U.S., so to speak. But is the accumulation of this stuff reality? That is what Satan would like us to believe. But it is all just a distraction, things to block our view of the only thing, the only One we will ever need… God. What most of us believe to be reality is really just a huge scam to blind our eyes and eventually harden our hearts toward God.
     So, what is reality? God is reality. His love, faithfulness, and provision is reality. Our absolute need for Him is reality. If we believe God created us and this world, making Him undoubtedly necessary to take our next breath, why do we think we can do anything more than that without His help? Probably because we are constantly being told that we can, and we are being offered tons of products and procedures to cope with our situations.  I was once told that “coping mechanism” is just another term for idols, and an idol is anything other than God that we turn to for any problem we may be facing. With all of this chaos that the world calls reality, how are we supposed to stay focused on God? Why would we think we need Him when we have our idols to get us through?
     Well, it’s by the power of the Holy Spirit, who we need to ask every day to help us to focus, to love, to be kind, to have patience, to want more of Him. In fact, we should daily be asking for more of God’s Spirit in order to walk with Christ. All we have to do is ask our Father in Heaven for help, even if we are asking for help to love Him more. We need not to be distracted by the distractions of reality, as the world has it. That brings me to this trip…
     Sometimes it is necessary for us to step out of the “reality” we function in daily and step into God’s reality. God knows what we need. He knows when we need a reality check and blesses us with opportunities to get the dose we need. We came down here in a large group and each of us is facing struggles, obstacles, and/or spiritual lows and God saw all of that. He saw that some of us needed genuine fellowship. He saw that some of us needed a “no distraction zone” to get our focus back on Him. He saw that some of us needed to be flooded with the Holy Spirit in order to take our next step in life. Some of us just needed to be reminded that God is good and He is relevant in every breath, every day, and every step we take. And some of us needed to be shown that “[We] are the body of Christ, and each one of [us] is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) God saw it all.
     God is everywhere. But, unfortunately we have done everything in our power, and it continues to progress, to drown Him out; to convince ourselves that we do not need Him. So, thank you God, we were given a chance to get out all of that and refocus on Him. We were blessed with a more concentrated does of God because down here there is less money and thus fewer distractions. People have less stuff of this world so they need more of God, more of His Holy Spirit to keep them going. This explains the passionate worship that we all witnessed – people here NEED God’s strength, love, and patience to get them through day after day of life. Where as we, from the U.S., can just go out and buy something or watch a movie, or call our friends to get away from life an make ourselves feel better, or so we are conditioned to believe.
     God brought all of us down here for a reason, without a doubt. I am sure many things were revealed and learned here but I do hope all of our eyes have been opened to the fact that we live in a “reality” of distractions, an unreal reality. A realm where Satan is throwing all of his tricks out in order to keep our eyes from God. Step back and see the futility of it all, when everything melts away, God is all that matters. I pray that all of our hearts are stricken with an insatiable hunger for more, more of God. He is the only one who can heal, who can give peace, and who can persevere. Watch out for the distractions of “reality.”

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Today the team went on an outing into Cholula.  They were able to see the Great Pyramid of Cholula. 

A local vendor selling his goods on the way up to see the church on top of the pyramid.

Shopping in the markets.

Lunch at a local restaurant.

Playing soccer with the kids back at Esperanza Viva.

Visiting and making friends.

The "despedida" or the farewell program.  Some of the kids performed a puppet show, a dance, and others did a skit about Noah's ark. 

Last visits with the kids.

One of the boys says thank you to Team Gozo for all of your hard work during this past week.