The Park

This was something I wrote after our trip through Nicaragua last year. Kendall and I spent new years eve in a park in Leon, Nicaragua. As we walked through the park and prayed for the people around us we were moved by the brokenness in this world but also by the beauty of God in people. The people I am writing about are not real but compilations of many people I have encountered over the last two years in Central America.

The human figure is created in the image of God! You can see the creator in everything around you, you only have to open your eyes.

The park is full of life tonight. People are everywhere, doing business, falling in love, falling in lust, searching for a hand out, and bargaining for a deal. They are made in his image but have fallen from the throne to depths undiscovered. There is one man standing on the East side of the park dreaming up the rout to his next fix. Paulo has just come off of a high and is desperate to fill the void which is increasing by the minute. He has nothing left; his “wife” has left (or bean left) and his 5 year old twin boys have been been abandoned with no father to present a picture of what a man should be. He traded his last 4 meals for a temporary high and he will chase that facade to the grave. His next move will be to rob Jillian who has just come off of a 12 hour shift as house keeper. Her wages are necessary to provide dinner for her 6 children and mother. Like most Central American families, Jillian is a single mom who raises her kids with the help of her mother. Again there is no positive male figure present in the lives of these kids, so they will grow up believing what society says a man and a father are. They show no emotion (except anger), they do not trust anyone and value is found in accomplishments. Ruining a woman adds a notch to the belt; men always leave, they yell, they watch sports and yell some more, men run from real issues and hide any weakness with an unbreakable exterior. Jillian will most likely lose connection with her sons in adolescents as they build up resentment and that shell that they believe is necessary for survival. She will not lose her daughters because they will lose their men; the women are united in their loss.

Darkness may saturate the world around us but God has dominion. As I stand here watching the world go by and lives fall apart I am filled with the Hope that only comes from my God! He came for the broken, he came for the lost, he came to bring light to the dark……. Satan may have a foot hold in this world but he is powerless to the name of Jesus Christ! I proclaim that name as I walk into the darkness, nothing will stand against me! I am his torch bearer, I am his light in this park tonight!