one in spirit

It’s Tuesday evening, and we just returned to the hotel after a long, hot day. We painted one home, poured a cement floor at another, and built block walls at a third. After another awesome lunch, the students even found enough energy to pull off an hour of puppets, music and crafts for more than 50 children from the community. So now we are covered with sweat, cement, paint, and more than a little Dominican dirt. Muscles are sore; feet are tired; hands are calloused … but, most importantly, every face has a smile on it.

It’s difficult to describe the intangible aspects of a trip like this: When a Dominican child sees one of the students walking down the street and runs up for a hug and a hand to hold. When a group ranging in age from 13 to 50+ (some who barely knew each other before this week) all begin to feel like a family within 24 hours of traveling and working together. When manual labor is actually fun.  When Philippians 2:2 becomes a reality: “having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose…”

In the few days that we’ve been here, we have seen this group live out these verses: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Whether it’s passing out cups of cold water at the work site, filling in on the bucket line for someone who needs a break, painting endless concrete walls, cleaning up after lunch, or putting together a VBS program of stories, puppets, crafts and songs, each member of the team has pitched in, not complained, and not slowed down.

Tonight, our family of 33 will go out to dinner, then meet again in room 622 for worship and telling about our God-sightings from the day. And, of course, there’s always time for the world’s largest game of “Signs.”