Student Ministry - November 2019
Dear Church Family,
This October has been quite the adventure. As the month began, preparations for our mission trip to Jamaica were fully underway. My plan was to go with the mission team and help minister to the students and faculty of a primary school in the mountains of Jamaica. We were going there to teach Bible studies to the kids and build them a new playground. My plan from there was to meet Kayla and Samuel in California, where she was visiting her grandparents and celebrating her uncle’s wedding. It was to be a great ministry opportunity followed by a great vacation.
However, “The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Prov. 16:9). After the flight to Jamaica, we had a good night’s rest and then made our way up the winding mountain roads to the school. As we surveyed the dilapidated state of the “playground,’ we quickly realized we would have to remove a slab of concrete to make way for the geometric dome. So 30 minutes after we arrived, a rudimentary pick-axe and
sledgehammer were acquired and put to quick use. I swung the pick-axe with vigor… too much vigor perhaps. The makeshift handle broke after the fifth or sixth swing. Someone then tried using the head of it to chisel away the concrete. Since we were limited on tools at that time, I decided to give it a try. I took it with both hands and began to swing down hard. On the fourth swing, it hit hard and slipped off the edge catching my pinky between the side of the pick-axe and the concrete, crushing the tip just beyond the joint and cutting it open along the side. Don’t worry, that’s all I’ll say about the injury.
So with that, my involvement in the mission trip was severely altered. I say altered and not ended, because I found that through all of this, I was able to meet countless people and share with them why I was in Jamaica in the first place. The “hospital” that I stayed in was full of interesting characters. There is far too much that happened in that place to tell here, but thankfully I was able to pray with several other patients and bear witness to God’s goodness in the middle of it all. At first I was fairly upset with the situation. I couldn’t believe that I was once again sitting in a hospital, unable to do anything for myself and totally dependent on other people. Only this time it was people I didn’t know in extremely unfamiliar surroundings. My team made sure I was taken care of, and visited me each morning to provide me with essentials. But they still had a job to do, and I had no desire to slow them down.
After many hours of waiting and praying, the Lord gave me peace of mind. He reminded me that while I wasn’t doing what I had planned, I was doing what He had planned. He established my footsteps in Jamaica from the beginning of creation. Once I accepted His plan for me, I was able to see the blessings in it all.
And that is one of the many lessons God taught me through this trial. Amazingly, my pinky tip was saved, I don’t require surgery, and there hasn’t been any infection. God used the tip of my finger to take me many places I would never go on my own, and I am very thankful for it all. I even was blessed enough to go on vacation and experience the beauty of God’s creation in California with my family. So if you’re going through something difficult, remember that God has established this from the very beginning. He has a plan for you, and He will bless you through it if you will accept His plan and let go of your own.
In Christ,
Brian Van Doren