Belize Bits - Part 1

My mission partner Ryan and I paused for just a second and stared at the surreal antiquity before us. The dilapidated wooden structure, with its tin roof, looked like something straight out of the 1880's. The horse tied up in front of the house completed the look. Yet as we walked the streets that morning in Punta Gorda, Belize, this was the house we were drawn toward. 

Approaching with some caution, I looked for signs of movement from within. I imagined briefly being greeted with an old double-barreled shotgun like my great-grandfather’s I had at home in a closet. But the warm smiles emerging from the house quickly alleviated any such thoughts.

Four, six, eight, and more poured out of the structure onto the old front porch, ranging from age two to around seventy. I started sharing the Gospel from the bottom of the porch steps and felt at once that the family was interested in what I was saying. They had some church background, having attended here and there, not unlike many in America.

At the end of my "mini-sermon," I invited those that fully understood the opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior, and six of the older ones did just that. I noticed the oldest of the group, a lady who appeared to be the mother and grandmother of the group, did not respond. I asked her if she had any questions, and her oldest son quickly explained she spoke only Spanish, but he was going to tell her everything I’d said.  I could tell from the look in his eye, he meant exactly what he said...

Like so many in our country, here was a family that basically knew the Gospel: that we’re all sinners, needing to repent, and only through the redemptive blood of Christ shed on Calvary’s Cross can we be forgiven of our sins...they knew all that. But they’d never made it personal. They were what I refer to as head Christians, not heart Christians, having knowledge of, but no relationship with Christ.  Over and over in Belize, I met those in the same condition. Many came to Christ, applying what they already knew to their own lives...but sadly, some chose not to.  

I’ve heard it said that those are the ones that will miss heaven by a foot and a half, the distance from one’s head to one’s heart.