Spare Change

On Sunday evening, I returned home from a short, but fruitful, trip back to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  Since returning from my initial visit in July, I have worked towards returning, even if only for a few days.  My life and my dreams are changing and Central America is part of those future hopes and dreams.  It was a pretty whirlwind trip, but very rewarding.

Meeting Pastor Rafeal (pictured above) was one of the highlights of my few days.

Rafael is the pastor of a small church in the community of Armenta, which is nestled in the mountains just outside San Pedro Sula.  We traveled up (it was pretty hairy at times!!) to his home, where we meet he and his family.  Pastor Rafael’s dream is one of sustainability for his community and he has cultivated and planted much of the land behind his home.  He has planted beans, mangos, mustard seeds, and just about anything you could imagine.  He has dug out little fish ponds, where he is growing and farming a few hundred tilapias.  His prayer is that he can provide for his family and his community. 

As we visited with him, he stopped to show us each crop.  One of the coolest things he showed us was how he “grafted” branches into existing mango trees.  Being a guy who couldn’t even get a chia pet to grow, the idea of multiplying a tree’s fruitfulness was crazy, but genius!  Rafeal was totally in his element and was happy to see us.  He proceeded to walk us through his farm and share his future plans.  Walking back to the car, I couldn’t believe just how humble this man was and how his heart was totally committed to the people he shared his life with.

Coming home, I have been quick to tell anybody who will listen about Pastor Rafeal.  Being from Kentucky, I have many good friends who I think would love to hang out and work in the fields with him.  Just yesterday I was telling one of my best friends, Brad, about our trip and about how cool it was to watch a branch be grafted into another plant.  Brad was quick to point me to Romans 11, where Paul speaks to the art of grafting branches:

^“And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree.  But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root” (Verses 17/18)

Just how cool is that!  I got to be honest, either I had never read this passage, or more likely, I had read it but just didn’t understand what graft meant?  All I know is that as I read Romans 11 last night and thought on Paul’s words, I couldn’t help but see myself standing in the middle of Rafael’s farm. 

It was very cool for me to connect some of the Lord’s truth through the witness of an obedient pastor serving him.  It reminded me of just how practical God’s Word is.  And it reminded me of how blessed I am to have a God who is willing to graft this “wild branch” into His family.  A family that includes Pastor Rafael!

God Bless, Bo