Redeeming Puerto Rico
I moved stateside in 1972 from Puerto Rico and have been
living here ever since. Most of my
family still lives there and I celebrate my Hispanic heritage. While I am proud to be an American, I still
am a Boricua through and through (Term for authentic Puerto Ricans that comes
from the Taino name for the island, Boriquén). I was born and raised there.
When I saw the devastation caused from Hurricane Maria it
was like a gut punch. I watched to pictures and videos as they became available
on the news and on Facebook and I was devastated. Puerto Rico has been called
“The Enchanted Island” and the “Pearl of the Caribbean” for a reason. It is
gorgeous. What I saw in those pictures what a place that was devastated and
denuded of its natural beauty and lush vegetation.
Then reports came in from my family and our church friends
with no water, electricity or access to food and my heart just ached for them.
Slowly a recovery has been going on. The stories our sister
churches have been reporting of how they have been taking care of their
communities have been nothing short of heroic.
A couple of weeks back I was in Colorado Springs for the
Vineyard Missional Leaders Meeting and I heard God speak to me about the future
of Puerto Rico. That word was confirmed the following week at our Intercessors’
prayer meeting.
This is what I believe that God said, “What the enemy
intended for destruction, God will redeem and will result in a spiritual
rebirth and Puerto Rico getting rebuilt the right way”.
A little know historical fact was that the big island of
Puerto Rico was originally named San Juan after John the Baptist. It was the
port on the small island that was named Puerto Rico (Rich Port) because all the
silver, gold and other riches from the Americas was shipped to Spain. It wasn’t
until later that the names were switched. To this day the Seal of Puerto Rico
features a lamb on it for Christ as the Lamb of God.
Our pastors in Puerto Rico have shared stories of how they
were able to get boxes of crackers and Sunny Delight juice boxes and they
passed those out to drivers of cars who were waiting in line for hours on end
to get gas. In Mayaguez, 6 of their families lost everything to either floods
or because their houses were made out of wood and are now totally gone. They have been able to help these families
with a place to stay and some basic necessities. Others had no money to buy
food and they were able to help them.
The church in Mayaguez now has power and they had re-activated the well
on their property and as a result are open to the public to supply water and
showers and are cooking one hot meal a day for all the church workers and
neighbors.
In San Juan, the pastors there have been hunting down food
in order to feed the homeless.
One of our pastors ran into a woman at a gas station whose
husband had passed away a week and a half earlier and only had a debit card to
try and buy gas and food because her late husband handled all the finances.
Marvin was able to pay for her gas and give her some money to buy some food.
Each of the churches in San Juan, Aguadilla, San German and
Mayaguez have similar stories to tell thanks to you financial and prayer
support.
Even now Curtis Welch is down there beginning to coordinate
the relief effort.
In addition to prayer if you would like to help out our
brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico, please click on the following link to
discover 3 ways that you can help Puerto Rico.
God is moving. Let’s partner with Him
Pastor Jay
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