Four years ago I met a couple who came with a vision to start a cafe and a ministry to the English-speaking tourists in Cusco. I heard about their struggles to find the perfect place and had fun helping them create a logo and pick out colors for that perfect place. I was here when they left without seeing their vision fulfilled and here when another couple came to lead a church and start that cafe finally. And last year I came back to help when that second couple left and two new families came to lead the church and head up the cafe.
I've seen so much change in the years since I orginally heard this crazy vision to reach out to the English-speaking population of Cusco. With each new person involved the vision has shifted and changed but what amazes me is that four years later the vision still exists. There has been three sets of missionaries involved, all involved are imperfect people, conflicts come and stay but God in His sovereignty has kept it all going.
Maybe I get too focused on the conflicts or imperfections of the day and forget the amazing God who gave the vision in the first place. Because whatever comes from His hand survives all obstacles. He is the God of the big picture and the putter-together of all the peices. He will keep His work going despite all odds and here is the amazing fact: Four years later a cafe exists and an English-speaking church exists. God has used them both to reach a restaurant owner for Christ, to give a Greek tourist a Bible to take home, to help a British friend know that God was real and to help local kids learn more about Jesus.
People will come and go but God's truth remains and His work remains. If the Meeting Place cafe or church is not His then it WILL FAIL. There is a need for a work among the travelers in and out of Cusco. There are many that need to hear the truth of God and if The Meeting Place is not fulfilling that work, God will raise up something else to fill that need.
Sometimes, I wonder about my part in this church/cafe thing. When there are conflicts am I stuck in the middle? I came to be a support of a vision that I believe was from God but what about when the human element gets thrown in and things don't look right? How do I respond? Do I give up? I could stress about everything getting messed up all day long but then I need to remember one thing.
God is the God of the Big Picture...
What a joy to see the fulfillment of a vision come to life! What an amazing thing to see peices put together in the midst of mess. God's heart is that people come to know Him, may I continue to be faithful to pray and seek Him fulfill that in my corner of the world.
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