Language Without Words

And So It Begins

June 4th, 2018: Twenty-three premeditated steps down the runway onto Delta Jet 5546 with little more than faith, trust and pixie dust. It seems that every sharp transition in life comes with intense preparation paired with barren expectation. I had no clue how God was going to wreck my life for the coming 270 days, but I had overwhelming faith that he would. So, I took off - 10,000 feet high - soaring straight into the abyss of God’s beautiful creation. If the wind goes where you send it, Lord, so will I - two stars to the right and straight on ‘til morning.

I stepped into the bus with Eddy – the driver for the Spanish language academy I would be attending during my first month. The ride to Antigua was long (traffic in Guate has no latent period), dark and silent. I struggled to ask Eddy about his life and family with the little Spanish I had retained. I immediately recognized how long the process of fluency would take.

With another stride of faith, I stepped into the dark street and knocked on the door of the Batz family home. A small man named Enrique, with poor motor control and a hunched back, answered the door with a lantern and led me warmly into his home. I couldn’t evade the looming sense of unknown that encapsulated the first 24 hours. But more profoundly, I felt wrapped in a garment of peace – very King David-esque.

The Spirit of God was with me this day, reminding me that if He was going to send me, He sure as heck was going to go with me. I fell asleep on this first night after opening a couple dozen letters from friends and family, with my bible open, listening to Defender by Upper Room Worship.

The first day of class came in stride. I was served a traditional Guatemalan breakfast of frijoles, huevos y plantanas by sweet Elvira, my Guatemalan mom for the month. I found out that Enrique and Elvira had been welcoming strangers into their home for over 20 years. Even for a Kentucky boy, their hospitality became unparalleled. My teacher, Rafael, didn’t speak any English but introduced himself as a follower of Christ ready to help me love Spanish. I knew that God was pressing a challenge, but I was ready. There seems to be a million directions I could go from here. We have a funny God. One that loves to be subtly present in every move (that is if you are paying attention). To spare you of a thesis-style presentation, I will limit myself to two big ideas that God worked on with me during this first month.

The Church

My small home church in Georgetown, KY has instilled the focus of God’s people on my heart from birth – for this I am unusually blessed and forever thankful. I think that in churchy language they say that the church is the people and not the building. From my experiences with Jesus, I like to present this idea as replacing religion with relationship. Jesus’ power on earth was manifested through love: every-single-time. Why would our aim as a church be any different?

What I found in Guatemala was the gift that I least expected. Before departing, I shared with many of my friends and family that God was going to provide a deep internal sense of reconciliation and direction during this trip. In an alternative universe, I would have been married and starting medical school this summer, but with a crazy turn of events, I found myself crawling out of the most depressed corner of my life. Having lost the girl that I had loved for 7 years and the career path I had diligently fought over for 4 years, I finally gave my life over to God – recklessly and with abandonment. God provided sharp signs in my pleading that the time I had agreed to spend in Guatemala would be my flood season, and that he would deliver me onto the mountaintop. On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, I would return home, with reconciliation and relationship to last a lifetime. This I knew, this He had promised. Now is the daily pursuit of how, where and why.

It seemed that I had spent months preparing myself for some type of Henry David Thoreau experience – identified by complete isolation and simple spiritual strengthening. To my surprise, I made many close friends during my month in Spanish school that displayed God’s vision all around the world. Andrew and Jonathan from Kansas were diligent servants of God preparing to work with an organization called Black Box International in the Dominican Republic that provided refuge for young boys that had endured the horrors of sex trafficking. Kiana and Katriel were daughters of a pastor in New Jersey and shared their life plans for ministry and missions. They both encouraged me, and continue to do so, way beyond what I deserve. Cecilia is an experienced nurse with the purest and kindest heart I have ever come to know. She left behind her career to boldly pursue the Lord’s call on her life in Guatemala. Brad and Blake, from Georgia and California, were debriefing from an 8-month trip in the middle-of-nowhere, Belize. Both are full of passion and humility and are preparing for a life led in the footprints of Jesus. Amy and Sari, from Tennessee and Pennsylvania, are life-long friends serving the Lord in orphanages in Guatemala.

God provided this group of special people to teach me more about myself than I could have ever experienced in solitude. It’s interesting how God always knows exactly what we need, even when we have no idea. Moral of the story - never close your eyes to God-sent community. The church is the supreme way God directs His children. Sometimes when we are looking for a divine and loud voice, we should really be looking at the person beside our desk or across the counter at McDonald’s. When we seek Him, He brings us together with one heart. He entwines, entangles, embraces, encircles and embodies our individual pursuits towards a broader commission - to advance the gospel, spread His love and radiate hope to those that need it most all over the world.

Still Small Voice

After having the opportunity to take around 100 college students on their first international mission trip, I have found that one of the most profound human experiences is forming exceptionally deep relationships with no familiar words to speak. In these moments, God demonstrates that He crafts all of His children uniquely, yet, He builds our individuality on the foundational desire and expression to love. We were all simply created to love first. Jesus pursues us individually and ceaselessly, and we relate best in the common pursuit of returning this favor – to Him and to each other.

Pursuing these opportunities to experience love without words, has drawn me to Guatemala ten times, and now I am here - semi-permanently. During this trip, I have full intentions of breaking down the language barrier. However, I am learning that no matter how much Spanish I absorb, the love of Jesus will never be conveyed most intimately with words of any language. Love is best given and received with action and by example. By showing up, by taking the next step, by reaching out, by encouraging, by believing. God shows up most profoundly when we turn love into a verb. He meets us in those places, with a hammer-in-hand.

There are about 6,500 spoken languages in the world today - possessing more dialects and accents than any linguist could ever hope to count. More impressively, I have come to realize that our Designer is creative beyond our comprehension. From my quirky scientific preference, with 7 billion people in the world today, God has already created 3x10⁶¹⁴ possible orders of DNA, each creating a unique individual. The number in itself is incomprehensible. To give context, you have the chance of winning the lottery trillions and trillions of times before any human could be biologically reproduced. And as the population grows, the number of possible unique creations grows way faster. A flawless system that God uses to produce millions of unique creations that he breathes life into each day.

With each life comes a new language. When the bible says that He gives us life and breath, I believe that this includes a unique way to connect with the Holy Spirit. One that each individual uses to talk with their maker. One that sets our soul apart from all other 7 billion creations. One that gives God the ability to have unique and intimate conversations with 7 billion people all at the same time. Just think about that perspective for a moment. God not only has 6,500 languages being spoken towards him at any moment, but he also has 7 billion unique situations, emotions and backgrounds that give each conversation its own dialect.

Language doesn’t have barriers because God doesn’t have boundaries. He will take you as far as you let Him, fight as long as you permit Him, and love as much as you allow Him.

So, let Him.

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Permit Him.

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Allow Him.

Your brother in Christ,

Logan