Blogging with the Bice's: Chapel Hikes

Occasionally during our stay here we have had the pleasure of going on hikes with the chapel on base. Before hand they raise money to purchase food, then on the day of the event, we fill our backpacks and deliver the items. Last Saturday we went on a short 3 mile hike (I say short because on the previous hike we were told it would be 5 miles, and it ended up bein

g almost 12!) to a village outside of La Paz – a neighboring city to Comayagua. We delivered an estimated 4,000 pounds of food, about $900 worth (which goes a long way when buying rice and beans from the marketplace!)

This particular hike was different than the others as we had some distinguished guests accompanying us…none other than CNN! Reporter Barbara Starr and her camera crew hiked alongside us while taping video footage of the event for an upcoming story. She interviewed participants and filmed the scenery as we hiked. It was really funny it just so ‘happened’ that every time Barbara was recording a segment, my friend Crystal and I ended up right behind her! Apparently the coincidence worked to our favor because Crystal, her husband Kyle, and I all got some face time on CNN´s web video clip. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/05/01/starr.honduras.food.cnn?iref=videosearch

Throughout our several hikes, it has always stifled me how many of the people to whom we deliver the food, willingly accept our gift however they seem to forget to offer a simple thank you. I am sure though, that is must be pretty humbling to have to accept food from strangers in order to feed your own family! And as Greg said, we aren’t doing this to receive praise from others, our purpose is to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus. I agree completely, and know in my heart that the people appreciate the supplies and hope they see them as a gift from our Creator.

The people’s outward lack of appreciation caused me to do some personal reflecting. It made me realize how many blessing and gifts God gives to me each day. Many of which I don’t even recognize (some of which I even expect!) let alone extend a mere ‘thank you’ for! I also thought about how much he must love me in order to continue blessing me abundantly when so often my gratitude is lacking! Which led me to my next thought…How long is someone willing to continue “doing”

for someone else that is ungrateful? I don’t want to find out….I realize that I really need to start identifying my blessing and glorifying the Lord in return, everyday! Now I don’t have any kids yet, but I have a feeling that is what moms go through a lot too. Lack of appreciation for all they do for their family. This probably won’t make up for my 27 years of neglection, but I’ll try anyway: THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING MOM! I LOVE YOU!

So at the end of the journey, as I was grabbing all my gear to head back to the bus an elderly woman approached me grabbed my hands looked me in the eye and said, “thank you so much for all of this, please share my appreciation with the others too.” This was the moment that ‘made the day’ for me. I soaked it in for a minute, then, thanked the Lord for the opportunity to participate in the chapel hikes. It really is a pleasure and a gift.