'burning for all to see;

burningforalltosee:

ever wonder what love looks like? 

Jesus Christ is the definition of love. 

every time he was wiped, every hammer blow to the nails through his flesh was for you. it was for every sin you have ever committed, and will ever commit. 

he laid down his life for you, will you surrender your life to him?

- apologizes for the disturbing picture. 

(via burningforalltosee)

burningforalltosee:

great is your faithfulness

burningforalltosee:

from the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring.

Your Hands and Feet 

I heard about the potential opportunity of going to Peru on a mission trip about a year and a half ago.  I was very excited that my youth group would be going across the world.  When I brought it up with my parents I was devastated to hear that they were not thrilled with the idea. The trip was scheduled for June 30, 2010 and as the months passed more and more things started falling into place. Raising money, preparing and most importantly convincing my parents to let me go were some of my biggest concerns. The year seemed to fly by, and before I knew it I was driving to Toronto Airport that early June morning, with my bags packed, ready to travel to South America .  Flying from Toronto to New York City was a short flight. I sat beside a young girl who was going down to Lima Peru to volunteer at the hospital there. The flight from New York to Lima, Peru was long and boring as the flight took over 9 hours.  We had just flown all night and as we began to prepare to land people began opening the windows.  The view was breathtaking; a glorious sunrise with huge mountain peeks jutting up through the vibrantly pink clouds. After we landed, we boarded a bus and toured Lima for the day.  That night we boarded a coach bus and drove all night to Trujilo where we would be spending the next week.  I slept most of the trip, and when I woke up we were almost there; driving through a desert with mountains and small ‘tent villages’.  Once in Trujilo we set up in the guest house. The trip had only just begun.

We spent time each day helping the locals build an orphanage. Other days we spent interacting with the people and giving food to the garbage dump community.  The city garbage dump is ironically named “the miracle dump” which is hard to believe when you see hundreds of people digging through rotten garbage looking for anything that they could eat, sell, trade, or keep.  The smell was a powerful and nauseating stench that you could not escape.  The sound of buzzing flies was deafening as what seemed to be thousand of flyies swarmed our exposed skin.  We wondered around the massive dump handing out fruits that we had purchased at the local market earlier.  The looks on those peoples faces was something that still affects me today.  Feelings of guilt overcame me as I realized just how incredibly wealthy and blessed we are in Canada.  I had to take a second and just stand alone while I was overcome with emotion. I stood there weeping asking myself, “How can God be in this?” How could these people living in the worst possible conditions still have hope, still be able to smile when a spoiled white boy from Canada handed them something as small as a Clementine?

The entire trip changed and impacted me on so many different levels. The flood of emotions that was experienced in my time spent there still confuses me today.  The one aspect of the trip that changed me the most was the people.  Old and young, they loved unconditionally. They hug, they kiss on the cheek, they laugh, and they overuse the word thank you.  They are generous even though they have nothing. They have a bright light in their eyes that no misfortune or seemingly unbearable situation could ever dampen.