“As I sit here and I look at this photo, so many different thoughts flood my mind. I think we all need to experience what Daphne felt in this photo.
Daphne came on this Casas trip for the first time with her parents, Michael and Tertia, who have served with me many times. I tell people all the time about my own first trip with Casas and how God took a kid that only cared about himself and made him care about others. The feelings in this photo are what I felt that day and what I still feel today. I watched Daphne playing in the streets and teaching kids from a different country how to pogo stick with very minimal conversation. Very few words ever passed between them, yet they still felt a connection. I sat back and watched her parents pour out their hearts in service to the Kingdom. Their daughter was also pouring out her heart for the Kingdom, and she had no idea of the impact her laughter in the street was making on the kids she played with and their parents who stood by watching them. It was an outright ministry.
I am currently sitting in an airplane 30,000 feet in the air and staring at this precious picture of the tears falling down Daph’s face. God’s love overwhelms me, and I just begin to thank God and praise Him for His mercy, His forgiveness, and His faithfulness. I pray that my heart will be like Daph’s heart and that I will continue to serve God in full surrender. Not for my own sake but for the sake of the Kingdom. I pray that I can truly love God’s people and that I can pour out the kind of love for others that I watched Daphne pour out.
Daphne, thank you for reminding me to love others in such a way that breaks walls down and shakes us to our cores. You showed us what truly loving people means. Even in the face of communication barriers, you reminded us all of God’s perfect sacrifice and that our Hope is in Him.
This photo is so much more than two young girls hating to say goodbye. It displays a lifelong and life-altering bond of friendship – all because a group of people from the United States was willing to step across the border to build a home for a family. They didn’t realize they were building so much more than a home.
God, You are King and You’re so good. I pray that You help us all love a little more like Daph.”
Zachary Bryan
Videographer