My lesson learned

The Thursday before we left to go to Honduras, I had the ‘opportunity’ to attend the graduation ceremony of my five year old niece from pre-school. The ceremony included a short presentation by the entire class which consisted of Bible verses and several songs. It was then followed by an actual graduation ceremony. They dressed these children in graduation attire, had them walk down the aisle as they called their names, and handed each one a diploma. And pretty much the whole time I was rubbing the temples of my forehead and saying to myself, “I can’t believe this is happening” over and over. That said I know that when it is my two year old nephew’s turn to graduate from preschool and when it is my three week old niece’s turn, I will be there to watch them do so and will probably be chanting, “I can’t believe this is happening”.

Anyway as part of the ceremony the class recited in the sing-song way children do Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And I wondered both at that time and as I traveled to Honduras that if we sometimes sort of gloss over this particular verse. It is a simple verse; one that we have probably all memorized. But, the implication of this simple scripture I think is sometimes lost to us. No where else in the Bible is a better example of the sheer power and the sheer size and greatness of our God. Think how large the earth is. And the earth is just a single planet in a solar system. And the solar system is just a single system inside a galaxy consisting of millions upon millions of systems. And the galaxy is a single galaxy inside the universe. And Genesis 1:1 tells us God created everything, which means that he is greater than the whole thing. It is incredible, and I think we all know that the earth and ourselves are actually very small, but it for many – including myself – it is really only from an academic standpoint that I know this. But it struck me as I left the United States for the first time and was truly a stranger in a foreign land - and particularly after our group separated from the larger group – how vast the world is. On the second day of programming when it approached lunch time, we walked over to the cafeteria and stood outside the kitchen window. And none of us knew how to ask for food. Four guys: one fixing to graduate in a semester, two who had just graduated, and their instructor thinking we are four fairly intelligent people and are unable to do something as trivial as ask for food. We did get to eat but it wasn’t anything we did but rather the ladies working there figuring it out. It was a very humbling experience, and it made me feel very, very small - very insignificant. And putting myself into the scope of the universe, I think I truly have an understanding of the vastness of the universe. And I almost despaired.

But then I remembered a second passage that graduating pre-school class recited: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” First of all, the world here is not the ground, plants, and trees. It’s the people God loves: the people that he created. And even though His creation turned from Him, He gave them a way of hope and salvation. And even though I may be small and insignificant in the scope of the physical world and the span of time, because God loves me I have significance. That is the lesson that has stuck with me from our trip to Honduras.

Fouss