01/25 - Philippines Deployment | Day 1
Day 1 – Deployment To The Philippines
I’m waking up this morning to the sound of shuffling feet and children’s voices in the corridor just outside my little hut. Looking outside my window I see small children in green uniforms showing up for school. My head is pounding, disoriented; I’m remembering that we showed up here to the IFL base late last night. I hear motor scooters whizzing by just outside the compound past the mango trees. The sun is rising.
As I look around at the school, the gardens, fish ponds, the rice fields, I feel a resonance with what has been done but such a deep groan for something that the world has not yet seen. It’s the “church” but way beyond what we can see from a pew on Sunday morning. Somebody labored for something greater here. They saw the need, and they believed God for a response. They built a refuge for many young children who needed education, provided jobs for the men, they became a conduit of hope from heaven. They built true missional community that became the canvas of an expression of God that many unfortunately will never know or see. The fog from the 24-hour commute from LA begins is beginning to burn off.
I have always loved the mornings. The hopeful anticipation of great things in God day after day fill my heart. I realize on this day that what I am seeing is one part of a mosaic of intricate pieces the Lord is putting together. I feel a longing in my spirit, a groaning of wordless prayer for “more” of what I’m seeing. It’s that longing for community — Missional community… I want that power, mystical, dynamic thing that happens when believers gather together and lay their lives down for the sake of the lost, the dying, the hurting.
You see I have this fatal wound in my spirit. I am a man with a limp. I am forever marked by what I saw in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. A hardened city, softened by a near fatal blow. A storm so terrible revealed such deep generational darkness in that city. In this vacuum of sudden desperation, a group of people said “yes” to God in the midst of all the impossibilities. We saw God move, and we saw a great harvest. Missional community bathed in prayer was at it’s core — signs, wonders, and outrageous provision was evident day by day.
In the onset of 2012, we sought the Lord for direction. He spoke to us about Isaiah 58 in regard to touching the poor, releasing the oppressed, and simply living and leading again from a place of risky faith on behalf of the poor. This was confirmed today in prayer as our small deployment team joined me in the field where I was standing. As we began to pray, a fresh reality of God came over us. As we train and mobilize crisis responders and build these ARC Schools, we must stop wasting time looking for fuel for the boat and just put up our sails as we get carried in the wind of His spirit.
It’s amazing the level of tenderness and clarity you can get after a 24-hour plane ride, now removed from all the trappings and distractions of everyday American life. In an environment like this it’s all upside down. See, we in the west think we need more stuff to be happy whereas the poor are happy because it’s all removed. On this morning I realize who is really poor, and I am now asking God here in the field for the gift of sight. Oh Lord let me see your Kingdom.
Patricia, the founder of IFL must have bumped into this reality years ago as a 6-month trip has turned into over 23 years of service here. She now oversees hundreds of schools in the nation. At breakfast this morning when I asked her, “So how did it happen?” She looked at me and said, “Love.” This was no sham; she shared the head of the table with a 4-year-old boy Raphie who she had adopted as her own. Love — intertwining God’s love for her, her love for Him, and the overflow to the masses around her. God’s love is relentless and it was quite apparent; the torrent of it gushing forth from this place.
What fruitfulness we experience when the first commandment is in first place. This was evident as Pat showed us the new multi-story building that was classrooms for hundreds of beautiful Filipino kids. As we visited each class we saw hundreds of children who have come into contact with the effecting of an amazing God. Pat commented on different ones as they passed by, telling of how God’s love has touched them in an individual way. Finishing our tour I asked how she raised the money for this massive building. She replied, “God told us to build. We didn’t have any money, we just had shovels. That was just a year ago. I am looking at a miracle of God’s provision. Isn’t it the reward? To see him do what we can’t? Pat lives in this whirlwind.
Now as I lay my head to rest for the few hours before an early morning flight to the flood devastated areas of Cayagon (the reason for our trip…I think) . I can sleep with hopeful expectation of what the Lord may do over the next few days. Once again as we took up His cause, He has been faithful to ambush my heart with a reality that has been removed for far too long. Jesus I see you in the eyes of the poor. Jesus I see you in the midst of the land. Jesus I see you when I sacrifice comfort. Jesus I see you when I comfort those in pain. Jesus thank you for granting me and this team the gift to sit and learn from the poor and the broken. I came to give, but once again you have out given me.
~Sean Malone | Director