For the week of: Monday, April 23rd 2007

"Set the Captives Free"

I wish you could all just come on over to the Grose abode and snuggle up in the den with me, share a cup of tea and take a look at our over 700 pictures of our recent trip to Honduras!  Oh, the stories I have to tell.  We witnessed the working of the mighty hand of God in so many ways.  My words are inadequate but I urge you to go to our Missions tab and let the pictures penetrate your heart.

I was struck anew by the bondage of these people.  Every turn of my head resulted in a view of homes covered by barbed wire or windows protected by bars.  Glass shards glistened in the sunlight, cemented atop exterior walls of buildings to dissuade burglaries.  Military officers armed with huge guns patrolled the streets and routinely strolled along fast food restaurant drive-thru lanes. 

The physical elements of bondage are just the beginning.  There is the bondage of extreme poverty, the kind of poverty that results in hundreds of people living in the city dump, with one hand ravaging for recyclable items to sell and foraging for scraps of food with the other hand.  The kind of poverty that allows a child to lie dying in a dingy 1950’s style hospital room from a disease that your child or mine would be treated for and released in our hospitals. There is the bondage of illiteracy, prostitution, and substance abuse in the form of glue sniffing by children to deaden the pain of starvation.  There is the bondage of the fear of dying doing battle with the fear of living to awaken to another day of the same hopeless existence.

Desperation.

Since our very first visit in 2005, that is the word that returns to my mind over and over again.  These are desperate people, longing with every breath in them to be set free. That is why we go.  We go to offer food to the famished, clothing to the poor, comfort to the dying, shelter to the homeless and the hope of a Savior to every heart.  We go to set the captives free.

Then we come home.  The return to our lifestyle is rarely welcomed by any of our team members.  We feel arrogant shopping for clothes when our closets are full, gluttonous filling our shopping carts when the pantry at home is still bulging and blessed beyond exclamation when we hug our healthy children and grandchildren.

It is a conglomeration of emotions that defies contentment.  And, if we’re not careful, in our sorrow we can keep our eyes so downcast that we fail to see what faces us…desperation.  The desperation of the people in our worlds.  There are folks in captivity with chains that are binding them so heavily they almost audibly clank beside us each day.  They are held captive by fear, anxiety, bitterness, addictions, religiosity, pride, insecurity, loneliness, humiliation and pain. 

I imagine you know some in your world.  And as much as I encourage (dare I say nag?!) people to join us in our journeys to Honduras, I am just as adamant about setting the captives free that live in our circles of influence.  Dear one, you are the reputation of Christ to a world that is desperate for a Savior who loosens the chains and sets the captives free.  That co-worker, your boss, your mother-in-law, the mom of your child’s best friend, your dentist, your mother, your pastor, your spouse…they all need to come face-to-face with someone who sees their desperation and reaches out both hands to cup their face and speak words of Life.

Lift your eyes, friend, find the faces of desperation in your world and chart a course for setting the captives free.  Speak over them words of love, joy and hope.  Pour over them the refreshing promises of the Creator of the universe.  Reach for them and wrap them in arms strengthened by the love of the One whose arms stretched over the cross beams of a tree on Calvary and purchased freedom with His blood so that no one would ever have to be captive…but free.

Lovingly from my heart,

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