Our local church, Mt. Zion, has started a ministry in El Salvador located in Central America.
Through this outreach we have certainly gained a fresh perspective on life. We were working with a lady named Helen who was in very, very difficult financial circumstances. She lost her patience with her options and borrowed $7,000 from her mother so she could be illegally taken to the United States.
In El Salvador the majority of individuals only make $25-40 a week in wages. The cost of living for U.S. quality goods is actually more expensive there with these meager salaries. The $7000 represented her mother’s life savings.
Helen was taken over the border illegally and things went while for a while. She was arrested and spent a few months in a prison for illegal aliens.
When she returned to El Salvador she reported that her stay in incarceration was the best time of her life. To her, it was an amazing experience that she could live a life where she knew she would eat daily, she knew she would have something to wear and had a sense of security.
In her homeland it is a country where poverty abounds and crime and violence are an every day experience. It is an amazing concept that what we would consider punishment she actually considered to be paradise!
As the United States struggles with the issue of illegal immigration we need to be mindful not only of our concerns but also consider the plight of so many suffering people in the world.
One day the prophet Ezekiel lamented about the spiritual condition of his people. He told they that they would come under divine wrath because they had the same sin as the people of Sodom. Sodom was a city destroyed by God because of their grave sin.
Most people think of the sin as only the sin we call sodomy or sexual sin. The prophet Ezekiel actually said, Ezekiel 16:49 (NKJV) ?49Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.?
The pride indicates their willingness to defy the Lord through promiscuous lifestyle but this was only a small part. The greater sins were the life of excessive consumerism and recreation without a corresponding concern for the needs of the poor.
I know we must have control of our borders but we must be sensitive to keep the heart of God and remember the needs of those around us.
At Mt. Zion we fly the flags of our neighboring countries, Mexico and Canada, to symbolize our commitment to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and also to be mindful of our need to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Our concern for others should not have border.
Christianity should not be defined from our politics but our politics should be defined by the words of our God.
The Lord told the children of Israel they needed to remember that were once aliens and strangers in a foreign land.
Do you ever remember being a stranger someplace and feeling like you just did not fit in?
How wonderful it is when someone takes the time to not only notice you but also reaches out to make you feel comfortable.
That is the kind of Savior we have in Jesus Christ.
He never rejected people but was always there to meet them at their point of need. Again, it makes sense to regulate our borders but in the process we need to be mindful of all people and the heavy burdens some people carry.
Loren Covarrubias is pastor of Mt. Zion Temple, 4900 Maybee Road, 248-391-6166.