incredible examples of real faith

today my faith was checked bigtime.

with the roads to Buena Vista blocked due to repair, we have been re-routed through corn fields and back roads to get to the village. the last few days we have passed a house out in the middle of nowhere that simply looks nightmarish.

mark and i have been wanting to stop in and meet whoever lives there. with a group from journey in town today, we stopped by to say hello.

the closer we got, the worse the living conditions became. old rotten pieces of tin, tacked together and barely standing. mud floors. no water, no bathroom.

we were greeted by a 76 year old blind man named manuel, and his 74 year old wife juliana. manuel stumbled out, shouting greetings and introducing us to his wife. the next half hour or so was spent getting to know them.

manuel lost his sight 14 years ago in an accident where he fell off a cliff and landed on his head. they literally have nothing. the land does not belong to them. they borrow it in exchange for watching the owner's property and caring for the pets. it is filthy.

they have no work, therefore they earn no living, therefore they struggle to eat. the have no family that helps them. nobody.

what's amazing (and beautiful) is what we found out next. a friend of ours named nato was with us when we stopped by. he is a local guy that was helping us with a garden micro-business we were working on this morning. as we hung out at this older couple's home, nato began to share more with us about them...

he said he remembers manuel from when he was a little kid. manuel had a candy cart that rolled around town selling candies and ice creams to the kids. nato said everyone bought candies from him.

then he said "i still walk the path in front of their home almost every night and they are always singing out praises to God. they sing so loud you can hear them up and down the path. the sing out their prayers."

i asked him what they sing, and he said "they shout out thanks to God for all they have."

for all they have? i cannot over exaggerate how little they have. no home, no food, no family.

later we asked to pray for them. as my friend chris began praying, his voice was drowned out by the prayers (shouts!) of manuel and juliana. they cried out thanks to God. they cried out prayers for us. that God would bless us, protect us, and overwhelm us with his love. with tears streaming down their faces, they thanked God for our visit and praised Him for the work that we are doing.

i left their home amazed at their faith, and my own having been seriously challenged.

i wonder how much of my faith correlates with good fortune. does my faith fluctuate depending on variables such as good health, paid bills, plenty to eat, family, friends? does basic worldly happiness help me have greater faith? i have so much to learn...

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10