We have cut back on our cable TV and canceled the land line at home. We now make a greater effort to find the buy-one get-one free coupon for our favorite restaurant. 

 

Meanwhile, in the colonia we visit on an annual mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley, one family has no cable TV, no phone, no coupons, no money to buy-one and get-one free and no bathroom in their make-shift home. 

 

Four members from The Crossing Baptist Church were determined to increase the size of this family’s home by 20 percent by adding an 8′ X 8′ bathroom. 

 

By the end of the week in the midst of a chemistry of dust, barking dogs, sawdust, sweat and a culture of poverty that included two boys who suffered from seizures daily, the water flowed. 

 

The sound of a flushing toilet which we intentionally hide behind a door was celebrated by this family. As the parents tearfully expressed their thanks to our construction team, one of the little boys just couldn’t wait.  He sprinted around in front of his “house” screaming at his mom and dad, “May I please take a shower, may I please take a shower?” He apparently anticipated an affirmative answer, because he was shedding his clothes in preparation for his first shower. 

 

It’s an amazing experience to watch the least of these transform instantly into the most appreciative for the most basic of human necessities. We are saved by grace for good works. Engaging in those good works seizes us in an explosion of joy by grace.