Bars on the Windows and Gates on All the Homes....

There are many approaches to global work. I have been on trips, and I know many who have been on trips. Recent conversations have sparked an awareness that it might be beneficial to share about LoveAIDS' approach. 

My community I lived in the duration of the summer in San Jose, Costa Rica. A quiet, calm neighborhood. Every house on this street was gated and had bars on its windows....

In my understanding of the biblical text, and in my understanding of ministry and cultural effectiveness, "I have become all things to all people..." and "Run in such a way to get the prize...." refer to specifics when the apostle Paul penned them two thousand years ago.... (1 Corinthians 9:22, 24) 

What are those specifics that Paul is referring to? What does it mean to run in such a way to get the prize or to become all thing to all people? Is Paul suggesting that there are ineffective approaches and methods to go about one's work? 

Recently I had someone bring up, "You mean you use the public buses?" [Everyone uses the public buses in Costa Rica.] 

"You mean there are bars on all the windows?" [Yes, there are bars on all the windows, and all the homes have bars/gates in front of them. That does not mean it is not safe. It is just a cultural normal for every home to be gated.] 


"You mean, you don't want to be out past 8 PM unless you a taxi/car?" [Yes. Of course. In almost every country outside of the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and Western European countries, you do not want to be out past 8 PM unless you use a taxi/automobile.] 


The assumption was that because we do not take our U.S. American lifestyle and live the same way in Costa Rica, that it is not safe in Costa Rica to do the work we do. [Anyone who has spent a bit of time in Costa Rica knows that, while it is always wise to be vigilant, to make assumptions like that which aren't based on reality only harms the good work we seek to do.] 

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• At all times, we seek to be lovers of truth. We seek what is accurate to reality in our operational planning. We seek to be wise about safety issues. We seek to be completely transparent with our finances. We seek to partner with those with whom there are high levels of established trust. 
• We acknowledge that inaccurate information can be harmful to accomplishing the work we seek to do. We seek to partner with those who want to partner with us based on information that is true about what's going on on the ground. 
• LoveAIDS is not for the weak. But it is for those who rely on God's strength. We are a young organization, and what we are doing is pioneer work. We seek to integrate the best of global health research with superior medical care and a loving, discerning application of the Word of God. In this work, we seek to work with trailblazers with a pioneering spirit, those are are comfortable helping create an organization in previously uncharted territory. 
• We work with the local people and we live among local people. We do not isolate ourselves or live lifestyles the local people can not afford to live. We ride the buses, the public transportation in the big cities that the majority of people use. We eat the foods the local people eat. We seek to dress the way the local people dress. 
• We do what we do because "the love of Christ compels us." (1 Corinthians 5:14) 

Bars. Yes. Costa Rica has many bars. Many beautiful bars and beautiful steel fences and beautiful steel window dressings....

 

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• Go into all the world.... (Matthew 28:19.) 
  
• The harvest in plentiful, but the workers are few.... (Matthew 9:37) 
  
• Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.... (Romans 12:15) 
  
• Greater love has no Man than this, than to lay down His life for His friends. (John 15:13)