Today I had the privilege to observe life as God intended us to live it. Wild, rugged, dangerous, and filled with faith for something only God can do. I got to hang out with a sold out, radical 21 year old college student who is living his faith in a jungle village, among an indigenous people who live a subsistence lifestyle.
God has gifted him with skills in agriculture and crop science and he has taken those skills into this village to help them grow crops and develop their fields so they can eat better and live healthier lives.
We drove his pickup out to the village where only his contact speaks Spanish. Everyone else in the village speaks a tribal tongue that he is learning. We saw his fields, flooded with rains, we saw villagers he is paying five dollars a day to clear the fields, and we put our heads together to figure out a way to get better crops out of marginal soils.
In six days I get to go home to Oregon, he will still be here, sweating in the tropical equatorial sun. He will continue to strive against seemingly impossible odds with a people who don’t know him or trust him, to help them eat better because he believes that is what God wants him to do.
I am humbled by a 21 year old radical for Jesus. May God make me more willing to believe Him for the impossible.
Steve Catts
Thanks, Steve, for a glimpse at where Austin is. The pictures bring a sobering reality to what he is doing out of his love for Jesus and the people of Nicaragua.
ReplyDeletePlease pass on my love and concern to Austin; I pray that he continue to fight the good fight for the Kingdom of God on earth.
ReplyDelete