A Shard from The Philippines

When the world was perfect, God was reflected without flaw in His creation. But when the world shattered as sin entered, that reflection also got broken in places. When a mirror shatters, the pieces still reflect an image. In a similar way, I think different people reflect different aspects of God. For example, watching my sister worship, I get such a clear glimpse into the Holy Spirit through her and what our pure joy during worship can look like :)

I also believe that parts of cultures can reflect different aspects of God’s character clearer than others may, and as I travel, I feel that I gather more reflections of who God is, both in individual people, and in groups of people.

As I think about The Philippines and the people I served with, there are so many ways in which they reflect their Creator! But one that I wanted to talk about is how much everyone was treated like family.

Some interactions I experienced during this trip:

“Hi uh, looks at nametag Shawna! It’s so nice to meet you! I love you with the love of Christ!”

“Have my pack of crackers.”

“I want to take a picture for remembrance”

*hands me child and walks away*

I became instant family with everyone I’ve met here. It didn’t matter if they were members of the church or patients or children at the schools where we dropped off water filters, these people didn’t hesitate to extend every kind and friendly gesture. Even people at the hotels and stores wanted to chat about anything and everything with us, and the conversations were often much more than small talk.

Often, the translators would even take medications and shove them into patient’s purses for them or rummage through their purse for a paper without permission 😆

To me, all of this was a bit of a culture shock, I knew Filipinos are known for hospitality and friendliness, but didn’t expect it to go to this extent. It truly was like they were all one big family, from the way they looked after one another’s kids (even if they were strangers) to grabbing/putting things in someone’s purse to sharing whatever food or resource they had (we borrowed each other’s medical instruments a lot!).

In scripture, the body of Christ is often referred to as a family, brothers and sisters because of our shared Heavenly Father. But how often do we really act like that? Especially with people who aren’t our close friends and family?

It’s a bit uncomfortable and vulnerable at times, to interact with people at such an intimate level. We have our bubbles and boundaries and walls set up to keep us safe. But family, born or made, should be those people we can trust inside our walls. They are safe and trustworthy to be around unguarded.

I love finding my brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world! I love seeing how they love Jesus and worship Him! I love hearing their favorite things about Jesus! And I love the family that God unites under His headship!

Even as we left, with tearful hugs, we did not say goodbye. We said see you later. Because even if we don’t see each other ever again on this side of eternity, we’re all going home to be with this family and our Father someday.

I think that’s what part of what heaven is going to be like :) everyone will feel like instant family, someone we’ve known our whole lives. We will walk up to people and say, “hey reads name tag you! It’s so nice to meet you! I love you with the love of Christ!” And I, for one, cannot wait.

That’s not his kid ;)