San Andres – Colombia

Beauty overwhelms us, enchants us, fascinates us, and calls us. -Fr. Andrew Greeley

Over these past few days I have been able to explore the beautiful island of San Andres Colombia. It’s waters are crystal clear, the people are the sweetest and the most giving, and it felt like a dream. I find it so funny how this place was only a plane ride away, in a different country where everything changes. We each live in our own time zones, with our own lifestyles, and our own problems and beauty. We each have our own battles that we fight daily, but all you have to do to get a dose of fresh air is leave your comfort zone. What a beautiful world we live in..

Spending a few days in this paradise was not enough. However, what impacted me the most wasn’t the scenery or the exciting adventures that I got to go on daily, it was the people. The people that serve daily without complaints. The people who live in unimaginable poverty and have only ever known that. How could I sit out on my balcony with my spectacular view, eating amazing meals when i knew that people only blocks away had never been as full as I. How unfair is it that I complain about slow wifi, my minimum wage jobs that pay my bills, my homework assignments and exams, when there are people who have never even known what school is or what it’s like because they’ve had to provide for their families at a young age. These people live off of hard working jobs that involve intense labor, and serving, and they still get payed less that I simply because they live in a country with a corrupt government. Society seems to think that if we have enough money, or if we marry the right person, if we finally have a family, if we travel, if we gain a lot of followers on social media, or if we fall in love we will finally have made it in life. We will be happy and be able to move on to better things. How simple of a thought, but how dangerous the feeling. To dwell on wants in life, and to live with the desperation of wanting to be whole, but to never achieve that goal. The more I travel, the more I see with my very own eyes how wrong that lifestyle is. Anywhere you go in the world, different people will live with that same mentality.

I was reading my favorite book one morning as I sat and looked out at the ocean contemplating these thoughts with the uncertainty of not knowing how to make a difference, and the page that I read spoke to me what I needed to hear in that moment; “The gift of presence is a rare and beautiful gift. To come unguarded, undistracted- and be fully present, fully engaged with whoever we are with at the moment.” – Captivating. When I read it I got it. What do people yearn for more than anything? Connection. They yearn for someone who will listen and talk to them about their lives. Someone that cares deeply, and will not judge or condemn them, they yearn for Jesus. I immediately started changing the way I interacted with people there. I started to really look into the eyes of the people that passed me and said good morning, asked them how they were, and slowly began to love on them the only way I knew how.

One night we were on our way to our dinner reservation at another hotel, and we flagged down the first taxi driver that we saw. His name was Alfonso and he seemed like he had been having a tough night. The moment we got into his car, he began ranting about people treating him  badly without respect, and yelling at him for saying no to their ride simply because they were being rude. All I could think about was how I could help change his night. My mother (who is my role model in everything I do) asked me if we should pray for him, and I agreed. I obviously was kind of nervous and unsure as to how he might react when we asked him, but I went with it. After we asked him, he seemed to be taken completely off guard but agreed. I started to pray for peace, and for God to show him how valuable he is in his eyes. I prayed for God to change his night for better, and to completely take off that burden off his shoulders. My mother also prayed for peace, and for God to change his night by blessing him with lots of good work . She prayed that he would encounter the same God that created the heavens and the earth. The same God that becomes our father and our best friend. Once we finished blessing him, he smiled and started to laugh. He said that he had never felt anything like he was feeling right then. He said he literally felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders and wanted to know what had just happened. I told him that God is not only a far away God, but he is a personal being who wants to be in our everyday lives. He gives us joy, heals our bodies, and wants to love on us. He was completely amazed and refused when we tried to pay him for the ride. It’s funny how when God gets in the middle of our relationships, he creates the sweetest bond. He became our friend on the island that wanted to take us everywhere simply because we had impacted his life, and he had impacted ours. It’s so simple but saying “Yes” to God and acting on kingdom impulse can really change situations. How do we bring that heavenly connection that people so desperately long for? We become fully engaged and present with everyone we encounter. We love on them and slowly we start to see the difference in the world.