Do the Next Thing...With Joy

Swarms of people trying to get to work pack the back of a pickup truck in the middle of the national bus stoppage

The past two months have been a little crazy for us, to say the least.  Last month, Britney was hospitalized for a few days with Typhoid fever and spent a few weeks after that slowly recuperating and getting back into her normal routine.  Shortly thereafter, we suffered the tragic loss of one of our youth to gang violence.  The circumstances surrounding his disappearnace and murder were unbelievable and we felt like we were living in some sort of fictional story instead of real life.  To top it all off, El Salvador has grown increasingly more violent and unstable over the past few months. Murder rates have skyrocketed and are similar to what they were during the civil war.  Just this week, gang members imposed a national bus stoppage on almost all bus routes in the country. Gangs threatened to kill any driver who attempted to take his bus out, and they kept their word, having killed 9 drivers in the past 4 days.  In this tiny poor country, most people rely on the extensive bus network to get back and forth to school and work so a stoppage of the routes severely impacts the lives of millions of people here and the economy as a whole.

Last night, when we picked up the paper, the news stories read:

21 year old woman murdered in Nejapa News article here
Gang members shoot at a group of Canadian tourists News Article Here
Whole country at risk for being affected by volcanic eruption News Article Here
Grenade thrown into parking lot of a major hotel in San Salvador News Article Here
Attempt of government overthrow News Article Here

It would seem as if the whole country has gone mad and it is easy to get discouraged. Admittedly, there are days when pulling the covers over our heads and taking a nap until all this over seems like a better option.

However, in the middle of all of the crazy headlines in the paper, there was a photo that caught our attention.  The photo is of a group of Salvadorans crammed into the back of a pickup like cattle trying desperately to get to work and school.  In the middle of the jam-packed truck there is a young lady who is smiling brightly. She doesn't seem to be too grumpy about the fact that she has to pay inflated prices to travel like a sardine wedged in a can in the middle of the 95 degree heat.  She has chosen joy, and we can too.

Psalm 118.24 says, "This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."  The very fact that the Lord has granted us another day should be reason to rejoice.  The apostole Paul, who was no stranger to suffering, said in Romans 5:3 "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials for we know that they help us develop endurance." Endurance. That is what we see in those Salvadorans, who in spite of every obstacle, keep moving forward.

Elizabeth Elliot is often quoted as telling people to "do the next thing." When asked how to move forward in the midst of unimaginable circumstances, she would say that you just "do the next thing." Great advice from a woman who, like Paul, was no stranger to hardship and suffering.

So, what do we do when our lives and health are threatened by typhoid fever, gang violence, government overthrow, volcanic eruption, and the everyday trials of managing a family and ministry in a developing country?  We choose joy this day, rejoicing in the small blessings.  Due to the stoppage of buses, our small town of Nejapa has been quieter. In the mornings we can now hear the birds singing instead of the loud noise of the buses running.  We "do the next thing" by continuing forward in the daily activities of our ministry and family and focus on the tasks at hand trying not to concern ourselves too much for the problems of tomorrow.  We trust that "the faithful performance of today's humble task will enable us to accept tomorrow's assignment."-Elizabethe Elliot