Serving with Passion

I have shared with you many of the projects that we are doing. I have written about houses, stoves, schools, clinics, Churches and hydroponics. I have tried to keep you informed of the things that we are doing but today I wanted to talk about motivation. The why behind all of the whats. What is the motivation for leaving the comforts of Illinois and my family and friends here.That is a good question and some days I ask myself that. I will try and share it as    best I can and pray that you are grabbed with a vision for service yourself.

Let me start by saying I do not love every aspect of the work that we do in Guatemala. I hate spiders, snakes, rats, scorpions and roaches but we encounter them frequently. I do not like to be covered in dirt and muddy sweat. Adventure is overrated when it means you could be stuck overnight away from your bed. 100 lb bags of cement are heavy. There are lots of things that we do on a regular basis that are not high on my list of desired tasks for the day. So WHY do I go?

When I get up many mornings I know the work ahead and I know that it is going to be a difficult day. I want to role over and pretend to not be there but that is not an option. I get up and I go to breakfast with the team. Hopefully it was after spending a little quality time along with God but that does not always happen. It is during breakfast that my perspective on the day changes. I begin to see that there is a purpose and a plan for today that has been taking shape since the beginning of time. Today, God is going to show His love to somebody through this group of people that I am with and I am going to get to be part of that. I am much more excited about the day at this point.

When I start focusing on people, God's love, and being a son to my Father the day takes on a special importance. Who knows, maybe that day there will be a breakthrough of love to one of the kids that I have seen countless times. Possibly God will use our team to bring healing and restoration to a person that has been hurt and abused. What if today is the day that someone we minister to with our words or actions would lay down their life at the cross of Jesus and receive all that He has for them. Today takes on a new meaning and importance that is easy to forget in the business of the work we are doing.

When I let God show me the bigger picture I develop a passion for what we are doing. I have God's heart for the people that we are serving. I see myself as blessed for being able to see the love of God manifest through His children to people that He wants to reveal Himself to. I become passionate about what we are doing because my Father is passionate about it. I get to reap rewards that are beyond what I can comprehend because I am working with Jesus and watching Him move in people's lives.

God has called us all to serve Him but not as slaves. He wants us to see the big picture and know what He is doing. He wants to ignite His passion in us for those that He came to save. He wants to partner with us to make His name known. God wants to give us an inheritance and fill our lives with brothers and sisters to share it with. God does not want us to spend our lives in meaningless tasks but wants us to see that whatever He has called us to should be used to draw people to Him. If you are a teacher, carpenter, mechanic or garbage ruck driver, God wants to ignite you with passion for your work and show you how to disciple others through that thing. You can do any legitimate job for His glory and to make Him known.

Are you passionate about what you are doing today? If not, ask Holy Spirit to show you how your role can have a kingdom impact on people's lives. Let Him show you how you can use your skills, gifts, talents and resources to Make Jesus known. You have a purpose, destiny and inheritance. What you do is important to the lives of those you are called to minister to. You are alive today to make known the kingdom of God. He wants you to have a passion for that.

I still need to raise support for my personal finances. I need another $1,000 before I return Sept 20th. I would also like to see several of the school children sponsored before my return. If you would like to help with either of these things you can contact me at 779-227-3812 or email me at thegeokr@yahoo.com If you would like to send support you can mail it to

Life Church Morris
c/o Guatemala Missions Fund, ongoing
P.O. Box 679
Morris, IL 60450

Thank you all and I pray that you find a kingdom purpose and the Father's passion for the work He has called you to today.

Just hanging out with some friends

Replacing a house in Zapote

In Unexpected Ways

This week has been a challenging week. With a couple of late nights always followed by early mornings. I was tired from about 5 o'clock Monday afternoon until I went to bed last night. I was having a hard time keeping up with this large team. The thing is, they were the oldest team that I have worked with. While there were many young and middle aged, there were several in their 70's and one, at least that was 80.

While the work went on this week, some of the older people were being worn down by the physical nature of construction work here. Everything is done by hand. They completed a pad for a play area and re dug the footers and poured them for the last of the first floor classrooms and the school office. They built columns and a cabinet and many smaller projects. It was a week of hard work.

The thing that stood out to me though was one man on the team. He is 80 years old, has had major heart surgery and both knees replaced. There were times when he would sit in a chair on the job sight and fall asleep. One day, he was shoveling sand into buckets for cement and could not stand so he sat in the chair and shoveled, taking about twice as long as it took anyone else. 

He has been faithfully coming to Guatemala for 14 years, working in Zapote and Membrial. I was wondering when do you say enough? By the end of the day, he could barely get in the van with his surgically repaired knees. What keeps him coming back when obviously he does not have the stamina for the work?

On Friday, I got to drive him along with about  or 9 others out to Zapote without any other members of the Church team. While at the school in Zapote, which this man helped build, I got a better picture of his motivation. He sponsors 6 children in the school and knows them all. He has been part of the work in that village since it began. While he was there, each of the kids was pulled out of class and brought to him. He had gifts and pictures for them. He also told them about his family and thanked them for their letters to him. he showed them the heart of a grandfather for the grandkids that he did not get to see often enough. His love and concern for them was genuine.

The reason that he keeps coming is because it does not matter how old you are. When we allow God to give us love for people, we love until there is nothing left of us. He may not be able to do all that he once did but he showed the love of Jesus as well as I am guessing anybody could. He is not going to quit demonstrating God's love to these children until he has no breath. Of this I am convinced so I just want to say "Thank You Dale for teaching me a valuable lesson this week."