So today I saw heaven. This morning during my time with the Father, I was reading Psalms 19, and I was struck by verse 1 and verse 14. "The heavens declare your glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. v. 1 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. v. 14." We went to San Jose with the team to build a sidewalk between the church and the pastor's house, as well as laying concrete in the pastor's kitchen. When I got there, I immediately saw Albarro playing with marbles in front of the church. He recognized me when he saw me, and went back to his usual position of biting his fingernails. I started playing "cochillas/marbles" with the kids, including Albarro. We got to catch up for a while, and it was so cool to talk to him since last time he hardly said a word because of his shyness. He told me that his mom put the pictures I gave him on their door. After playing with the kids for a while, from fighting with sticks to shadow boxing, I mixed one volcano of cement. That's all of the work they got out of me today. Mo worked the whole day with the cement, doing work. Before lunch, I felt bad because I had done so little with the construction, and since I'm a guy and everything. But that conviction shortly went away.
After lunch, I had intentions to do construction after I got all of my boys in VBS. I thought I could sneak away some point during crafts/songs/games to go help, but I literally was beckoned everytime I got close to the door, "Espencer!" Osman and his brother Elton both came to VBS, so Osman literally stayed attached to me from the time we went outside to play. I had another gymnastics class with some of the guys, doing somersaults of all sorts in the grass, which quickly led to a punching/wrestling match. But don't worry, they were constantly laughing the whole time, smiling from ear to ear. Not even lying. After a while it just got to the point where they tried to dogpile me. I would always make sure to save Albarro and Osman from being at the bottom of the pile, seeing that they were by far the smallest. I stepped back for a second, putting Osman and Albarro down, and looked around. I saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. I saw Doc Simmons and Mace lifting giggling kids up in the air, spinning them around. Chris Roberts was playing baseball with the boys. Jenny was dancing around with a parade of little girls and boys mimicking her every move. And Rachel was letting a posse of little girls play with her hair. Christ was shining through all of them, and the kids were reveling in Christ's love. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before because I swear the glory and joy of the Father was shining down everywhere. I made a beeline for Rachel and told her that "This is what heaven is going to be like." Ha, later she said I just walked away after saying that with the most seriousness. It was unreal.
It gets better. Tonight Rachel decided to talk on "heaven" after our mini conversation for her devotion for everyone. And without talking to me, guess what verse she referenced: Psalms 19:1. So from the Father. I am telling yall, I have never seen the Father work through a group like I have this one. Well, I am off to rest for a while before another beautiful day at San Jose.
I love you all,
Spence