During my high school years, our youth group embarked on numerous mission trips to Mexico. On one occasion, we revisited a specific town where some of our leaders had previously served. Following a challenging yet rewarding week of constructing cinder block houses, our van rolled into a nearby neighborhood. Barbara, one of our leaders, gazed out of the windows with a focused intensity, as if anticipating the arrival of someone or something.
After a while, a woman emerged from one of the houses, prompting Barbara to spring up. The van halted, and we watched these two women run to each other. It was a heartwarming reunion between two individuals who didn’t share a common language. After hugs and tears, someone explained to the rest of us that they had worked on this woman’s house years before but hadn’t seen each other in a while. They had bonded that year despite language barriers. There was this unconditional love that they seemed to have formed between them.
This reuniting reminded me of God’s love for us. Although we often feel like we have lost touch, God’s love is present. God is continentally seeking us, trying to meet us exactly where we are. In the meantime, the evidence of God’s passion for us is ever-present, like the home that was built just a few years before the reunion of these two women. When we finally reconnect with God, it is filled with great joy. The foundation of our faith teaches us that there is nothing in this world that can separate us from God’s love. There is no distance that God’s love cannot overcome. There is no barrier that God will not clear just to connect with us. Even when we feel distant from God, God is with us, and God’s love is for us.
Doug McAbee, Director of Visual Media
