Friends, I have shopped me some FINE Black Friday sales in the past. This year the one TV channel we get from the States has been letting me know of the bargins. Kohls opens at 4:00 a.m. Target opens at 5:00. I’ve been joking with a dear Guatemalan friend that we are going to start Black Friday here in the market!

Of course I had to explain what it was first.

Yes, it is true, Black Friday has not made it to Antigua, Guatemala…

In reality, a lot of things have not made it here.  Good schools, access to a dentist, clean drinking water, safe stoves and homes for widows are all things that have not fully made it here.

Sometimes even living here I forget…I offered to lend a movie to a dad the other day and he said, “I’d love to borrow it when I get a dvd player!” Well-educated teachers tell me that they don’t make brownies because they don’t have an oven.

And as I watch the hilariously annoying target lady run down the aisle with a parachute on her back, I think to my self “Not too long ago, I shopped on Black Friday and had no idea or just tuned out the needs of so many people.”

But God is not letting me do that any more. If I were home this Friday I just don’t think I could watch people fight over a camera or an mp3 player, when I know people here who can’t afford vegetables or meat.  I’m not passing judgement, I am just sharing how God is rocking my world.

So, what if…..

For every store you go to on Black Friday, you also buy a water filter.
Or you don’t go to any stores at all and instead buy a house for a widow.
What if, as a family, you decide to buy dental equipment.
Or instead of a ski vacation you go on a mission trip.
It is radical, I know.

Servants 4 Him has a gift catalog that will allow you to do just that!

Six months from now the clothes you buy your kids won’t still fit, the iTunes songs will be old news, the camera will have broken and the earrings lost….but impacting their world view is a gift that will last a lifetime.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:17

(Maureen)