Panama: 800 Photos

“If you think that I would be ANY happier with arms and legs, then you’re wrong… To God be the glory because he didn’t give me arms and legs so that I could be here today, so that one of you may come to know Him,” Nick declared. A bold statement to say the least. Extreme. Unnerving. One look at his eyes let me know that he was dead serious. He couldn’t be any happier and he did praise God for giving him the chance to share the Gospel—without arms and legs.

We were sitting in a nice room in a fancy hotel with about 300 individuals from Panama’s upper class. We hoped to influence the influencers. And did God ever influence. Tears streamed down faces. “Amens” resounded around the room. Sporadic applause. Nick captivated the audience.

At the end, he stood on a platform and asked everyone to form a line. He would hug everyone and take a picture with whoever wanted one. My analytical side immediately began thinking about how the best way to do this was. We soon had a system set up where people would hand me the camera, I’d snap the shot, and they’d be on their way out the other side. It worked fairly well. I’ve never taken so many pictures. I’ve never used so many BlackBerrys. I couldn’t imagine being in Nick’s place. That morning my mom and I had decided to count the number of pictures he took that day. By 10 am we had passed 200. I lost track at 350 while I was taking pictures. Really, I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the day it was close to 800 photos.

After Nick was pictured-out we headed upstairs for him to meet the Colombian ambassador to Panama. She passionately encouraged him. She really enjoyed his talk. He signed some books for her and then she went and talked to my parents, saying that she wanted to partner and help plan and promote Nick’s future events in South America. Wow!!

I headed back down to the lunchroom and grabbed some food. I sat down with my mom and sighed. Phew. What a LONG day. We had toured the Panama Canal from a navy helicopter that morning, landed at a naval base where Nick spoke to the soldiers there. We then arrived at the presidential palace where we were expecting to meet the president, but didn’t. Instead, we received a private tour and then Nick was surprised with a room of 500 prominent leaders waiting for him to talk. Of course, he did. From there we went straight to the upper class event. And that night was the event in the baseball stadium.

I checked my watch. 3:30 pm. Ah, late lunches... oh well :). About this time a lady approached my mom and me and introduced herself as Misty. She sat down and we began talking. She’s a missionary in Panama and works with orphans. Her husband and her just adopted a five-year old boy, Peter, who is HIV positive. They feel that God has been laying it on their hearts to open a special needs orphanage and they hope to start that project in the near future. Somewhere in our conversation we found out that she was bringing 50 orphans to the stadium that night. How exciting!

On our way to the stadium, I let Nick know that they were going to be there and he said he wanted to meet them all after the event. Ah, I love Nick =). We got to the stadium and though it wasn’t full, there were still thousands of people there. A band made up of police officers sang salsa songs and then a couple of other singers presented some songs. Then when Nick got on stage, the Panamanian soccer team came up and gave him an autographed soccer ball, a soccer jersey with his name and an ID card as an honorary member. Cool :).

He preached boldly and the Holy Spirit was definitely moving. He spoke against church division and greed. He challenged people to truly love others. When he had the altar call, 80% of the people stood up. He patiently asked them to sit down and explained that this was for people who were making a first-time decision to follow Christ. This wasn’t a recommitment or anything else… it was for those who had never decided to follow Christ before. Then he asked those to stand. Again, 80% of the stadium stood. Hallelujah!! Church members went through the crowds collecting information to do follow-ups once Nick left. What a rich harvest of souls :).

Thank you so much for your prayers. This trip wouldn’t have been the same without your support from wherever all of you are. I still have one post to write… about Nick meeting the orphan girls after the stadium event, but I’m still trying to put the beauty of it all into words!