It’s More Than Just a Cool T-shirt

What’s worse than being sick? Living with the belief that there is no cure for your sickness. And what’s worse than that? Finding out too late that there existed a cure all along, but the people who knew of the cure kept quiet and did not share.

For those who don’t already know, I am currently living in Santiago, Chile (South America) teaching English abroad. In February of this year, I took a leap of faith, applied and was accepted as a new English volunteer. With the support of family and friends, I was able to depart for Chile in July of this year and I’ve been here ever since.

As I was preparing to leave, my prayer was always that God would show me the greater purpose that He had for my coming here. I knew there had to be one because my pastor had been teaching on becoming a world changer. At the beginning of the year we read the entire book of Acts as a church. I was feeling so inspired by Paul’s journey that I was pumped and motivated to take this great gospel with me into the “trenches” of Chile and share the message of Jesus Christ in Spanish! …Well, first of all, speaking Spanish and sharing the gospel message in Spanish with native speakers that talk faster than I can think are two totally different things. So needless to say, I have not been picking up preaching engagements in my spare time here.

So, Zebrina, what have you found to be your purpose, then? I’m glad you asked. Until recently, I still didn’t know for sure myself. I was beginning to conclude that I was only sent to teach English to these lovely Chilean students, then come home and show everyone all of the cool pictures I took while traveling. Then GOD began to speak to me. He had me to recall 3 things that have been happening here. First, He drew my attention to the fact that for the second time in a row, my host family placement has been with Jehovah witnesses. This is significant because both in Guatemala and here in Chile, I have watched these families get up faithfully on weekend mornings and go out to share their faith on a one-on-one basis with the people in their communities. Secondly, I recalled sitting in the park one day singing and playing my guitar when I was approached by 2 very young Mormon elders. They showed up with their materials in their backpacks all ready to tell me about Joseph Smith in Spanish. Part of the way into the conversation they asked and I told them that I was from the United States. They then disclosed that they were too, so we switched the conversation over to English. In this conversation, I learned that they were missionaries traveling through South America with the sole purpose of sharing the message of the Mormon church. So, they told me about Joe Smith and I told them about the Holy Spirit, they gave me a card and we parted ways. Neither of these two religious groups teach the gospel as I believe it to be, however, I am able to learn from both their examples. My third and final recollection was of the Evangelical Christian church that I have been attending while here in Chile. Yes, I decided to end with the plain ‘ol Bible-believing Christians. I go to church with the family of one of my students. The youth there have their own “Escuela Dominical” class on Sundays and on Saturdays they meet for training. Training? What are they being trained to do? They are being trained to go out and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in their communities. Last Saturday, after training they actually went out to put what they’ve been learning into practice. As they shared their experiences, the youth leader explained that it was good that everything didn’t go smoothly because it usually doesn’t, but each experience better prepares you for the next.

GOD brought all of these examples to my attention to show me that spreading the gospel is not just the job of the preacher behind the pulpit but it’s the task of all who have received this great gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. That means, you and me. He showed me that I need to make it my business to verbally share the gospel with others. He didn’t save me just so that I could lead praise and worship on Sunday mornings and never speak to anyone about GOD during the week. He didn’t equip me with a second language so that I could just teach in a public school and enjoy a Spanish movie every now and then. And he didn’t allow me to reach the age that I’ve reached just so that I could feel old enough to tell my students and other youth what to do and never equip them for the main tasks that Jesus told us to carry out.

Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Luke 15:16) The ‘Walk the Talk’ t-shirt has it’s foundation in “The Great Commission”. He said, “go” and “preach”. Well, going requires walking and preaching requires talking. At least 3 times since I’ve been here, I’ve been asked “Qué significa ‘walk the talk’?” (“What does ‘walk the talk’ mean?”) I always explain it like this: It’s a reminder to God’s people to not just tell people what the Bible says, but to live how the Bible teaches us to live. You know, “Let your light so shine…” right? (Matt 5:16) But the phrase in itself indicates that there is definitely talking involved. Otherwise, we need to make a t-shirt that says, “Walk the Secret Cure and Wait for Somebody to Ask You About It”. Now, first of all, that is way too long for a t-shirt. Secondly, the Bible says, “Go ye…” and I am compelled to go. Who’s with me? We have the cure to a sickness called sin. Let’s share it.

Now, I’d like to finish with some cheesy but relevant rhyming clichés because I’m just funny like that.

“Don’t just wear it, share it!”

“If I can’t hear you talking, how can I tell what you’re walking?” (lol)

-Z