The Road to Matanilla

The road to Matanilla (or it could be Emmaus, or Bernard, or 22nd Ave., or …) is one we take often.  It is the road to sanity.   Not that Matanilla is a sane place. It is the last pueblito (village) on our constantly climbing road.  3km from the house the paved road ends and 4X4’ing begins (well, if your 4X4 low works and even then it can be a challenge).  No, the road to sanity is our exercise road.  We go up this road regularly as we power walk our way to sanity with our Nordic walking poles in hand.  Taking a walk up this road opens our pores, our blood vessels, our minds, our hearts, and our perspective.

We don’t know what road or path you take to regain your sanity in life but think about it for a second…

So, I’m walking sanity’s path one day and a man I have seen a few times comes by on his bike.  In fact the steep incline of this road is such that I was walking fast and he was riding up the hill at the same speed.  So, between huffing and puffing, we started to chat.  I love people’s stories so I start asking Javier his story – unemployed, divorced, living with a woman, unsure of life’s purpose, etc.  In my mind I could only think of Jesus talking to the woman at the well.  So I started to challenge Javier about his choices and where he was going.  We opened up a dialogue that day and it opened up a prayer road in my heart for this man.  He is now part of my daily intercession time and I look for him every time I am out regaining sanity.

So the other day Michelle and I ran into Javier on a back road coming back down the mountain.  Within a minute of conversation we were back to deep things.  I was amazed how a few questions about the other person and some understanding nods and uh-huh’s can start a relationship.

We are all on a path to sanity (well, some are further along than others of us :)).  On that path we WILL encounter people and if we are willing to take the time to talk with those people, to give them the time of day, we may just find ourselves at the edge of an ancient well talking with someone whose life is broken and can only be healed by Jesus.

We have the privilege of giving leadership to 50 people who are willing to walk the challenging roads in 10 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.  They are Canadians who have left the comfortable streets of Canada for the unknown, constantly inclining roads of the Sun region.  Please pray for them as they walk the roads, streets, sidewalks, and paths of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, Aruba, Jamaica (ooh I wanna to take ya), and another significant island in the Caribbean Sea.

And pray for us.  We have invited some of our key leaders from this region to our home/regional office/guest house in Costa Rica from May 30 to June 3.  Together we want to discover how to continue to create transformational movements in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Murray & Michelle