Recently, while on a hunting adventure in Guatemala, I needed to reposition myself to await oncoming game to hunt. As I approached a new spot to position myself, I passed this stump of a cut down tree. I was drawn to it, and returned to it to take the above photos. This stump has provoked some thoughts from me, and I would like to share them with you!
Abogar is now in a time of pivoting the focus and efforts of our ministry to Mexico. After more than eight and a half years on the ground in Guatemala, I feel like this stump is a very hopeful representation of the current situation in which we find ourselves. A lot of work… planting, watering, and feeding seeds of ministry in the ground of Guatemala… had me imagining that Abogar’s work had produced a large firm tree, but as we have moved our efforts away from Guatemala, it seems that the ‘tree’ was cut down. It is now more of a stump, a tree cut down, leaving just the stump and roots. However, growth and results really remain in the hand of God.
This cut down tree stump (in the above photos), still maintaining its roots, now has new life coming forth from it, and it is now still growing up. If the tree was still growing, the small new growth would not be able to thrive and grow, but now there are lots of new stems shooting up from the roots and base of the stump. We, at Abogar, can only trust God to be able to bring forth growth and new fruits from the stump that remains from the work that Abogar has invested in Guatemala. None of it was done in vain, and we trust that God will indeed bring forth growth and fruit for His glory.
It is a hopeful and common reality that God’s will is to produce something different than we expect or plan for. Some have suggested that God wanted Abogar to move away from Guatemala, for the very purpose to allow some of the seeds that Abogar has planted to be able to come to fruition for God’s glory. May there be initiative and commitment from local Guatemalans to truly advocate for and minister to the precious children there, and may families be preserved and strengthened for God’s glory! Though the ‘tree’ of Abogar Guatemala has been cut down, may new life sprout up from the roots and stump that remain, and continuing growing up!
