Jamaica.

One week.

One team.

One goal.

One love.

One God.

I am going to try to put into words my trip to Jamaica, but no amount of words will ever be enough. 

Jamaica to most, including myself, is thought of as a beautiful beach and sunshine. Which don't get me wrong it is beautiful, but Jamaica is so much more than that. The beauty isn't in the beaches, or the scenery. The beauty is in the people. 

We step off the plane monday afternoon, first thought... HUMID. We are greeted by the missionaries we will be staying with and the pastor of the church we will be serving along side. We load the buses, and the week begins.

I had a lot of doubt going into this week. But the instant a sweet little Jamaican boy named Deshaun (guessing on the spelling) wrapped his arms around me and told me he was so happy I had come, all doubt was removed and replaced with joy. 

Tuesday morning came early. We eat breakfast and prepare for the day. One group will go to the home of a member of the church and help work on their house. My group will go to the home of the Pastor's that has been destroyed by termites and do whatever we are told. Now when I say house, some of our living rooms are bigger than the homes these people live in. But they are more grateful for the little they have than any of us are for everything we have. 

Let me just say us American are lazy. No offense to anyone, but we are. The work ethic of these people would blow your mind. We mixed concrete and were told anytime we get it on us to rinse it off because it will burn, while we are doing so the Jamaicans are mixing the concrete, standing in it barefoot. Not complaining at all. Isn't that how our walks as Christians should be. Every time something happens, we stop, we produce some type of anger or resentment towards the Lord and question His perfect plan for our lives. Why? Because we want the pain to go away. But what if we were like the Jamaicans. What if we just kept going. We didn't stop to wash off the concrete. 

Don't you love how God works. It wasn't a sermon or a church service that revealed to me the first thing the Lord wanted me to learn in Jamaica. 

It was by the people.

After every day we worked we would come home and be greeted by kids. Tired, exhausted, and sunburnt, but the instant you would see one of those kids smile and all of a sudden you could go a little bit longer. I think Jesus works like that as a reminder, just when you think you can't go anymore He reminds you, you can. He lets you feel weak and exhausted, just so you can realize how much we need to depend on Him. 

It was by the people.

As a kid, Easter egg hunts were the second best thing to Christmas morning. Some of the kids we were with had never experienced an easter egg hunt. That moment when they rushed out of the church and begin to sprint to pick up the eggs will be a moment I won't ever forget. They displayed excitement. They would run up to us and show us how many eggs they had found and then run to someone else and tell them. They painted a picture for me. Shouldn't that be us? Shouldn't we run to people, tell them what we have found. We have found Jesus. But we don't stop at the first person, we run to the next.

It was by the people. 

Jesus revealed himself to me in more ways then I mentioned, but I think that this is the biggest point He wanted me to realize; that He is always going to be enough. Something I have been told over and over, and even professed but never fully grasped, until now. Why now? Because of the people. 

Beginning to see the common thread here. It was always the people. It was the kids wrapping their arms around me. It was the men working as hard as they did and never stopping. It was the people having nothing but being happy. Why? Because Jesus was enough for them.

Monday morning came. Packed up and ready to go. Hugs begin and so do the tears. The people have changed my life more than I could ever change theirs. I came to serve them, but they served me more. I came to bless them, and they blessed me more. But most of all, I came to love them like Jesus did, and they loved me more. 

It was the people. 

Sweet Deshaun, looks up at me with eyes filled with tears and says He is glad I came. The first words he told me but not the last, because while we were there precious Deshaun accepted Jesus as his Savior.    

As I hold back tears even now, one thought comes to mind. Immeasurably more. 

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." Ephesians 3:20