One of the most amazing experience in my life came
from participating in Mission Trips. I had the fortune of
going to Peru (twice) and Panama. Each of these trips had
building components where we building a church. With
each trip we would become a rather grimy looking bunch,
caked with earth and construction.
Every day we would go out and work about 5-6 hours
shoveling dirt, moving debris and blocks, mixing cement
and any other activity that was required for us to to meet
our goals for the day. The construction portion of the day
was always the most fulfilling time for me. My least exciting
time of the day, however, was getting cleaned up. It wasn’t
because I don’t value getting cleaned up, especially when
we were getting ready to go to a local church and help
them with a seminar or VBS.
The reason I hated getting cleaned up was the shower.
When we were in Panama we were staying in a hotel, of
sorts, (not what would be considered a hotel in the US)
and by the time all of the students were done taking their
showers there was never any warm water left. The two
times we were in Peru I dreaded the showers because by
the time the students were done showering, my body
would naturally have cooled down from our vigorous
work, which always lead to my not being excited about
showering with frigid cold well water that came from the
mountains.
Every time I would go in to get cleaned up it would be
such a shock to my system. I would start the hyperventilation
breathing that occurs when your warm body meets
ice cold mountain water. After each soaking I would have
to psych myself up to get back under the water in order to
rinse the shampoo out of my hair. Getting clean is never
easy on a mission trip.
In fact, getting clean in life is never easy
This week, as we continue our sermon series
The Bible: Building a Bridge
we will look at the concept of getting clean spiritually.
Today we will enter the poetry section of the Bible and we
will be analyzing the concept of forgivingness and cleansing
in regard to our sins. Our study will come from Psalm 51
and the sobering plea of David once he acknowledged how
deprived he had become without God.
You see, we can walk around filthy and gross but the
reality is that this is not what true human existence was
created to be. Getting clean can be a shock to your system
but that shock is also meant to invigorate you with new
vitality and health. As we will see in our study David was
brought back to a new life and a new existence in Jesus.
As we study together this week may you have the courage
to go through a life shocking cleansing in order to experience
new life in our Savior!
– Pastor Geraldo
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