Love, that is the armor of light.

We arrived at Kona Airport Saturday night at around 8:00pm, which was 2:00am Georgia time. Needless to say, our team was exhausted. Fourteen hours of travel had worn us out and it was nothing but refreshing when we felt that Kona air on our faces. After a surprisingly easy time at baggage claim, we ate some sandwiches and went to bed anticipating the week ahead of us.

I woke up the next morning at 5:30am in a foggy cloud. I was exhausted yet awake, jetlagged, in a new environment, and trying to look coherent enough for Sunday morning service. I threw on what I could and we drove to Puna Baptist Church.

Puna Baptist Church is a small church located in what used to be a flower shop. It’s not huge, it’s not grand, but I guarantee you it is what Jesus spoke about when he spoke of the church. Our team did not meet church members who saw each other once a week that morning, we ran into a family who knew each other by name. The building did not constitute the church, the people did. When I walked into that small building, I could automatically feel the spirit of love pouring out. This was a church that understood community. We worshipped with them, we watched as they celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, people who were leaving, guests—we watched as they celebrated each other.

The church takes care of each other. Hosting such things food banks every Thursday, they do their best to help each other. Everyone has their own light and they let it shine. They don’t dim each other’s light, they celebrate it. They understand that the greatest armor a Christian can carry is love. They poured love on us and I tried my best at times not to cry as I loved them as best as I could. During my week with these beautiful people, God taught me a lot of lessons and I will be expounding on these lessons in the next few blogs. Tune in.