Puerto Viejo is a funky little town in southern Costa Rica. Take the holistic, health-conscious scene of Portland, combine with the spiritism and occult of New Orleans, and add a twist of weirdness from the heart of Austin…that’s Puerto Viejo.
I did a lot of street evangelism this month, and I met quite a few people who were searching for….something: acceptance, adventure, a fresh start. But there was another, even more prevalent theme I found amongst the foreigners living in Puerto Viejo.
As I was out one evening, a man walked up to me and said, “Pura vida! Do you know what that means?”
I hadn’t caught the first part, so I asked him to repeat himself. He did, and then he explained, “It means ‘good life.'” The man had to be in his sixties, American, and yet he held out his hand to fist bump me the way a sixteen-year-old would. “That’s what you have here in Costa Rica,” he went on. “A good life. This is paradise. Stay here as long as you can!”
“Oh?” I smiled. “I’m actually leaving on Wednesday. My group’s going to Nicaragua.”
“NICARAGUA?!” He shook his head. “I feel sorry for you.” I’d heard wonderful things about Nicaragua, so his comment took me off guard. “It’s a sad,” he went on. “Sad place. Nobody smiles there because they’re so damn poor! Same in Panama!”
Now I knew that wasn’t true because I’d just come from Panama. Yes, there was poverty there, and no not everyone smiled. But it was a far cry from saying nobody smiled, that “everybody” was that poor. And I certainly didn’t feel sorry that I had gone.
But as he continued talking, I began to understand why he had such a warped perspective: He didn’t have Jesus in his life. And then the real reason he was living in Costa Rica came to light…and it wasn’t what I thought.
Our conversation went seamlessly as I allowed him to voice his opinions of Central America and the economics of Costa Rica. But whenever I asked him questions (basic questions, those that make up the core construct of a conversation — what’s your name? where are you from?), he became standoffish.
“Farfromm,” he said when I asked where he was from back in the States.
“Farfromm?” I repeated.
“Yeah. Far from here, and I’m never goin’ back!”
Ohhh, I get it. I mentally frowned. He doesn’t wanna tell me where he’s from because he’s running away from something. That made me sad, and although his lips were locked pretty tightly, I at least managed to get him to admit some basics about himself — mostly the state where he was from (he wouldn’t tell me the city). And then–
“What’s your name?” I asked, thinking I could pray for him. I wondered if maybe he was the victim of an ugly divorce, or if he’d had a falling out with siblings, children…maybe he was an alcoholic or drug addict and was running from the wreckage those addictions always leave behind…or maybe he was homeless and didn’t have anything to go home to.
Various scenarios, all wrapped in brokenness, pummeled my thoughts. But after a moment’s hesitation, a raise of his eyebrows, he asked a question that told me exactly what he was running from.
“Before I tell you my name,” he said, “I have to ask you…are you with the IRS?”
“Noooo, I’m a missionary.” Stunned, I tried to determine if he was joking.
He wasn’t. He studied my face as I gave my answer. After a moment of deliberation, he must have decided he believed me, and he admitted his name was Neil.
He left pretty quickly after shaking my hand, refusing prayer as he did. “You go pray for other people. I don’t need prayer. Pray for those sad people you’ll be seeing in Nicaragua.”
As I type this now, I’m realizing just how badly Neil needs Jesus. Those who are poor often realize their need for God. They have no one else to rely on, so they’re forced to rely on the Almighty. The world isn’t meeting their needs, and so they are more apt to turn to God to meet their needs.
Neil’s mind has a veil over it. He doesn’t think he needs God because he’s afraid of what “God” would mean for him. Confessing his crime? Turning himself over to the authorities? People are so focused on what they’ll have to give up when they give their lives to Christ, but they fail to see what they’re getting in return: unconditional love, salvation….
For me, the big one is FREEDOM. Not living free from the prison cell of sin and separation from God, but a true freedom that can only come from God. Peace is another, and Jesus gives us a peace the world cannot give (John 14:27).
What Neil (and a lot of people, in Puerto Veijo and all over the world) don’t understand is that when you give your life to Christ, EVERYWHERE is paradise. It’s not some place that gives you fulfillment. It’s the wholeness that comes from fellowship with God, which is only possible through God’s grace. And grace comes from believing in the One God sent, the One who is the very essence of God Himself:
Christ Jesus.
True fulfillment will never come from an outside source. And as attractive as “paradise on earth” sounds, that’s a pretty limited viewpoint. What if paradise was in your own house, with our own wives and husbands and children? What if it was our own neighborhoods, communities, the homeless of our inner cities?
What if wherever we went, no matter where we were, we were in paradise because paradise was in our hearts? What if paradise wasn’t a place but a Person?
Well I have Good News to share: GOD is paradise. And if you give your life to Christ, He will take it, yes. He will take it and do with it what He will…but you can trust that He’s going to turn around and give it back to you totally new and restored and beautiful.
Beauty for ashes. That’s how God works.
I’m asking for prayers for Neil and for all the people of Puerto Viejo who are running from something. As my dear friend Alyssha always says: stop running AWAY from things, and start running TOWARD GOD.
Amen.
And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that He would give us a safe journey and protect us our children, and our goods as we traveled. For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God protects all those who worship Him, but His fierce anger rages against those who abandon Him.” So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and He heard our prayers. -Ezra 8:21-23
As I said before, a lot of people are searching for something. I know that it’s God they’re searching for (because that’s what everyone is really searching for…that’s the big “secret” of life, people just don’t realize it).
