Air Conditioning Filters

June 26

Shalom! Today was an exciting day for the air conditioning crew. We got to go up to the rooftop! It was a beautiful view and we got to climb all over stuff (even if that meant slamming my head into metal by accident…) It was nice to be out in the sun even though it was draining! It was our last day working with Biebier because his daughter is getting married tomorrow, but it was a lot of fun! Everyone got walky talkies today so we were able to joke around with each other while we worked. 

After lunch we cleaned out the room with all the clean filters. You don’t even want to know where they put clean filters. It is probably the dustiest room in the building. I felt like I was in a dungeon! It was so dark and dusty! By the end my hair was caked with dust and when I blew my nose it was black! But it was a lot of fun and we got lots of good work done!

I’ve really gained so much respect for the people on this team. Everyone is such hard workers and never complain. They are such testimonies here at this hospital. God is working through us in this place. I mean, some of these people have never heard the true Gospel and now they are seeing it lived through us! It’s an amazing thing.

I was totally exhausted by the end of the day so I tried to just rest a bit before devotions and Ladies Bible Study.

In Philippians we talked more about what it truly means to live for our Messiah. “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” Dying as believers is the best thing that could ever happen because we will be in the presence of our Messiah! But we are needed here on earth to proclaim the Gospel and share His love, and that is also a wonderful purpose. Everything we do should be centered around Him. He should be our number One in everything we do. It’s a very easy thing to say, but a very hard thing to do. It is a really sad thing, I realized. When I truly think about it, being entirely honest with myself, I realize I don’t always put God number one in my life. For instance, sometimes my friends are. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with having friends and spending time with them. In fact, it’s a necessity of life! But what IS wrong is I realized, I would drop my Bible in a heat beat to go do something fun with my friends. I would cut my quiet time short or cut it out completely so that I wouldn’t have to miss out on other social plans. As I said, there is nothing wrong with having a social life. It is so needed in this life! But when my social life is prioritized over my time with my Messiah, that’s when it becomes a problem. This is something I majorly have to work on. It’s a process, but I can’t give up or pretend it’s not a big deal. I want my life to be centered around Messiah, no matter the cost. The sacrifice will always be worth it.

I was thinking today, and this may be a cheesy analogy, but it really helps me to put things in perspective. I was cleaning the air conditioning filters and we were talking about how important it is that they are clean. These filters help the air be clean for sick patients. For patients who are about to go into surgery. They need clean air! The filters need to be clean! And I got to thinking, wow, we as believers are the air conditioning filters. Unbelievers are the patients. If we, as believers, try to control our own lives and accept no help from our Messiah because we think we can do things on our own by not putting him number one in our lives, we will start building up filth. We will get so dirty and guess what, the patients will get sick from us. But, if we let our Redeemer put up the water pressure and hose us down and make us clean from our sin, we are able to put out fresh air to these patients so they will be able to breathe fresh air and be help them in the process of being healed by their Redeemer.

I don’t know if that makes sense entirely, but it makes sense in my mind. I need to be cleaned. Not just wiped down, but I need the water pressure on HIGH. It may hurt, but it will be worth it. In order to reach out the lost, I need God’s help. I need him to make me clean, because only then will I be able to share the Truth of God’s love.

Anyway, after devotions, we went to Ladies Bible Study. I love these ladies so much. We finally learned everyone’s name! (We were bribed with chocolate shekels!) And three of the ORIGINS girls were able to share their testimony. It was so encouraging to be able to hear how God has worked and is still working in their lives. It is truly a miracle and a wonderful thing. I will never be able to understand God’s love or comprehend it and for that I am grateful. His love will never run out or give up on me. And for that, I can only pray that my love will overflow as a result.

We also got to learn about what the ladies have been learning in their Bible study throughout the year which is also very encouraging. To hear about how God has been working in these ladies’ lives over the past year is just so awesome. He works in amazing ways and we as believers are always learning and always growing. There is always more and more to learn no matter how many times you read a passage from the Bible there is always something there to learn that you didn’t notice before. That’s the great thing about God! He is forever.