A Beautiful Explosion

I recently saw a movie where a man stood on the brink of an explosion. While this is normally not a good place to be (in my humble opinion), this movie was different. This was the guy’s ultimate sacrifice to save the world and all in it. So it was a choice for the man to be standing in front of the on coming blast wall as atoms expanded and multiplied. As I watched, the camera was positioned directly behind the man during the explosion, so all that could be seen was his light-permeated silhouette of the man as the blast wall past around and through him. Of course, beautiful music was playing, making this moment a moment of beautiful sacrifice and not one of sad loss. It was poetic and epic and actually kind of took my breath away.



My good friend Jon and I were talking the other day, and I decided this movie was a metaphor to explain what it is like to do what I do. To be down in Mexico as students from a far off land come and show love by holding children and building homes. There is a simple spark in the middle of all of this that I get to stand next to and watch as it expands and multiplies. It is a growing invisible, spiritual explosion that slowly envelopes all who are down there. It ignites as you look into the eyes of a child who has not eaten in a while. It ignites as you look into the eyes of an 80-year-old couple that will sleep in a bed for the first time in their lives. It ignites as you look into the eyes of a mother who has recently lost her son. It ignites as you watch jaded teenagers crying as they leave families that they have known only for a week. None of us (students, leaders, Mexicans, or myself) held the match, but we are caught on fire all the same. None of us are the catalyst for this explosion, but we are the atoms used to transfer this Holy fusion from one person to another. We hold hands and tell stories that inspire and burn.



And me . . . I stand at the epicenter of this blast as the man from the movie. I am a silhouette before the expanding light reaching out to permeate my being and engulf me until I am completely swallowed by the blast wall. And the beautiful thing is that it was never meant to reach only me, but any that would turn and simply take the time to notice its effect.

This beautiful explosion is not just reserved for Mexico and those in it. No, this explosion is no respecter of borders and so it enters the States by way of students who saw their Creator for the first time. And they carry this permeating light back to their own families, their own churches and their own schools back in their own towns. It grows and we hear stories of how far it has reached. Places like Oregon, Wisconsin, Maine, Missouri, and Indiana. We hear stories of people wanting to help the poor in their hometowns. Finding coats for the homeless, and repairing homes for those who can’t. This is the invisible explosion that the Creator ignites. And like most things, I need to be in the middle of that. I want to be right next to the spark when it happens. And then I want to be engulfed and just wait for the beautiful music to kick in. To wait for the poetic moments that take my breath away.

This is my dream. And you are helping me live it.

As I start my ‘08 travels this week, I realize I haven’t told you “Thank You,” enough. This I know for sure. Thank you for all you’ve done and all you are continuously doing not just on my behalf, but on behalf of the spark. God uses your hands, your prayers, and your support to ignite His beautiful, invisible explosion that is engulfing us all. May the light and the heat reach you. May it permeate you where you sit as you read this.

Thanks again.

Eric

All you have to do is look out for a little extra brightness in the sky. So if you wake up one morning and it's a particularly beautiful day, you'll know we made it.
-Cillian Murphy, Sunshine

And regardless, in the evening
A light is thrown by the setting sun
It speeds along this vast familiar
And silently crosses everyone
It's the light that's changing
- Mason Jennings, The Light (Part II)