and now, Costa Rica

We’re in the airport now. We have coffee, food, and time to relax before our plane takes off for Costa Rica! Well, Houston, then…Costa Rica! Our team consists of my lovely girlfriend, Matty McGee, li’l Emily, and yours truly. (Kerry Bankhead, Matt McGee, Emily Bennett, Eddie Looper) We are making our way down to San Jose to work with First Baptist Church of Desamparados.

Our church, FBC Arlington, has a long-standing relationship with them, but this is a new trip. Typically, a team goes during our summer, their rainy season (which I hear just means that it rains harder than it is right now), and works with their more rural missions around the country. For this trip, we will be hitting their “summer” (it’s kind of always summer in Costa Rica) and doing most of our work in their more urban mission/shelter, “Higuito.” That will be roughly half of the trip, the other half will be divided between two of their missions in the north, Morazán and Boca Arenal, and seeing a little bit of their beautiful country.

The countryside will be gorgeous, but I’m excited about Higuito. We were given a couple pictures of the mission. The first thing I noticed about the place was the large rolls of razor-wire strung across the top. Awesome. I’m looking forward to giving them a sidewalk, and spending some quality time with the kids there.

[Commercial break/we had to go get on our flight]

We are now on the plane headed out of Houston and down to Costa Rica. There was a bit of a scare on the last flight. Nothing to do with safety, we just weren’t sure if we would make this one due to delays on the last one.

But we are now on our way! We even got to do a little running through the terminal, movie style, to catch our flight. (As you may be able to tell, I am not a seasoned traveller) While that was exhilarating, I’m hoping, and quite sure, it will not compare to doing the work our King calls us to do. I’m really being humbled by this trip. Just the way everything has worked, the way we are being taken care of, is such a blessing.

What I’ve really been thinking about is God’s forgiveness. Even though our entire religion is based on the sacrifice our God made to pay for our sins, we still find ourselves getting caught up in worrying about “being good enough.” I was worried about it all the way up to the airport. I was focused on my sins, recent and past, and found myself worried about God’s willingness to provide for us because of them. I found myself wondering if he would make me unable to lead this trip, because I haven’t “earned” the rite. I’d forgotten what He did for me, for all of us, and about the finality of that act. Our sins were forgiven, once and for all, and we are now freed by the blood of Christ. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s okay. I have to stop. We have to stop. Not only have we Christians been freed from the penalty of our sins, but we have also been freed from bondage to those sins. That means we are free to stop sinning! Continuing on in those sins is a slap in the face of the One Who Loves Us. He calls us to believe, and repent, so we should honour Him and do so. Alone, this is impossible, but through Him “all things are possible.” Contrary to popular belief, that verse does not mean we can hit the ball farther, throw it farther, or dunk it harder. It does, however, mean we can overcome our sin nature, not alone, but through the power of Christ.

I am hoping this trip will be a permanent reminder of that for me, and for all involved. I am looking forward to these next few days, and I ask that all of you pray for us, the people of Costa Rica, and for your own hearts. I will keep this updated as often as possible, and I would love to hear what you think in the comments section.

Peace, love and soul train. Until next time,
Eddie