What is your Vision? - Nicaragua Internship Summer 2009

This past Wednesday, seven business owners met in the office of Business Professionals Network for a workshop on how to fill out a business plan. As they started going through the documents, one of the first questions posed was, "What is your vision? What is the vision you have for your business in the future?"

As I listened to the facilitator, I was asking myself, "What is my vision for my life?" While I think I have a good idea what it is, I find it helpful to take the time on occasion to pose this question not only in my personal life, but also in the things that surround me--work, church, relationships, and even hobbies.

Living in Nicaragua this summer, I'm also asking myself another question about vision--"What is a Christian vision of development in this country?" What I see and hear daily is a mixture of hope for the good work that is being done right along side of systems and situations that are unjust and unacceptable. The work I am doing is only having a small effect, but I hope it can play a role in moving toward the development in Nicaragua that I and many others can envision.

Sometimes, it seems too ambitious to imagine that the garbage on the streets could be gone, that the sick could receive the needed medical attention, that all children would be in school instead of selling water and candy on the streets. But that is when I turn back to the statement about vision in Habakkuk 2:2-3. God's vision of complete restoration may seem slow, but it is guaranteed. So too, the vision for restoration in developing countries may seem slow, but with God in our work, we should not lose heart.

And the LORD answered me:
"Write the vision;
make it plain upon tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its time;
it hastens to the end -- it will not lie.
If it seem slow, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay. (Hab 2:2-3 NIV)

A Day in Catarina - Nicaragua Internship Summer 2009

The natural beauty of Central America always takes my breath away. Coming from the slightly hilly Midwest, the mountains, valleys, volcanoes, and lagoons of Nicaragua dwarf any hill or sand dune I've ever climbed in Michigan. Yesterday I was once again amazed by the view from a mountainside overlooking a lagoon with a lake farther on that disappeared into the horizon. With binoculars we could see the contours of the forests on the surrounding hills, and between the lagoon and lake the roofs of a town were just distinguishable.

It is within these stunning surroundings that 5.5 million residents of Nicaragua live. However, what often draws my attention away from the natural beauty is the stark contrast between this beauty and the situations in which many residents of Managua live. Just today on the way to work we past the fruit and vegetable stands. I had always thought these shelters were used during the day by sellers and then abandoned at night as the people went home. Instead, a co-worker told me that the fruit vendors actually live in the back of those stands, with beds, televisions and all their possessions. I was shocked, but it was one more example of the daily survival of some sectors of Nicaraguan society.