Charity

This morning was an interesting morning. I started my day at roughly 4:30 in the morning, not very typical for this young buck to do and then as I found my mother making her way out the door to pull a few hours at another hospital she helped me improvise for breakfast which turned out to be pancakes, but instead of milk we used half and half cream mixed with water. Yes, 'Eww' or 'Ohh...Ok' is quite right, don't worry I ate the pancakes and so did my brother. Funny though, if my mom didn't suggest to me to make my brother some pancakes as I finished the pancake mix I probably would've fell right back to sleep. Yes, comfortably in my cozy bed and I probably would've brought my aging Jack Russell and childhood friend, Sprite to my room to let him sleep at the foot of my bed.

Instead, I stood and made my brother's pancakes which wasn't all too bad minus the thought of what he would've thought of my 'improvised breakfast' that resulted in the use of creamer used for pancakes. But I still continued making my bro's pancakes with little or no concentration, but plenty of 'sleep crust' in my eyes (Thought to self, 'Really hope they didn't fall in my brother's pancakes.Ugh,that would be bad). Anyway, in the midst of this prep, I had some thoughts concerning 'charity'. I thought of Haiti and the devastating tragedy that occured there followed by the world's desperate attempt to pour out anything they have to this nation in the Caribbean. Which led me to the very word, 'Charity' found in 1st Corinthians 13, starting in verse 4 in the old King James Version of the Bible. Which now we see this word replaced in the new translations of the Bible by, 'Love'. Which that very word pointed me to the Greek translation of the word 'Love' (Greek the very language that 1st Corinthians was written in originally anyway.); Agape. Agape in Greek refers to a kind of love that Christ so perfectly demonstrated and that was on the Cross. What kind of love is that? A selfless one; here's some way(s) I think may help basically->Pouring out love towards others WITHOUT expecting anything in return. This very thought inevitably led me to the Cross, what Christ did there and understanding that charity is not just a means to meet others needs with the 'hand me down clothes' we have in our closests (I'll be the first to say I'm guilty of such things like that), but reciprocating that charity or love that God showed to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, though this time unto others.

How does this tie into Peru, you may ask? Well, if you weren't thinking that, umm, cool? Haha. When I go to Peru I'm sure like many times in the past when I've shared the Gospel those Peruvians probably walked away with the Gospel spoken to them or they received Christ into their hearts. In reality some of those people would end their day accepting The Lord and probably not eating until the next day. It's reminding me of one thing: "Seek first the Kingdom of God(Matthew 6:33)and then Proclaim the Kingdom of God(Luke 9:60)." Today is probably one of few days that have been back to back to back that have involved the Lord pouring into me verses and simple words of encouragement and wisdom to remember and jot down as the time here in the States draws to a close and the next Act or Chapter begins for me titled 'Semester III at Bible College'. That's it for now, next blog post will probably be when I'm in Peru or a couple of days before I fly back.

-Danielito