Right There With Ya, Paul

It has taken me a considerable while to process my recent 9-day stay in El Salvador.

3 weeks.

And it's still not even processed yet... nor do I realistically expect it to ever be.

This trip was different from others... it was hard in ways I wasn't expecting, and by golly there were times when I got so frustrated or heartbroken that I wanted to steal away and cry for a few hours.

But those memories will fade, because they cannot outweigh the good. They cannot destroy the fruit that the Lord produced through our ministry there. And to my slight surprise, they do not extinguish my passion for the missionfield there... if anything, it has been fueled. Exponentially.

A vital, living, breathing piece of my heart has been captured, and is being held at ransom there... it remains with my brothers and sisters. The Lord has broken it for them.

All of these thoughts and musings and feelings and longings have had me thinking about good ole' Paul. (Paul of the Bible, Paul.) If you've read his letters, you know about his tendency to gush about his love for the recipients, and his constant yearning for reunion. After being, three times, emersed in a culture with people whom I love and ripped away a few short days later, I feel something of a new empathy for Paul...

"God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son. One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity , God willing, to come at last to see you.... When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours."

- Romans 1:9-10, 12

"I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called-- his holy people who are rich in his inheritence."

-- Ephesians 1:16-18

"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ returns."

-- Philippians 1:3-6

"I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again."

-- 2 Timothy 1:4

"So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart... God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus."

-- Philippians 1:7a, 8

I hear ya, buddy. I feel the same.

I want to go back, too.