Semana Santa

Semana Santa, that's what the Nicaraguenses call it.   We call it Holy Week.  It's the one week out of the year that vertually everything comes to a halt in Nicaragua.  The shops are locked up tight, the sidewalks are not very crowded and the traffic headed west - well, that is another story.  Everyone and their mother, grandmother, aunt, brother, sister, cousin are all crammed into buses, loaded on to pickup trucks, flat bed trucks and headed west, 12 kilometers or 7 miles to the Pacific Ocean.

Every vehicle was loaded down with people, plastic chairs, picnic stuff, and rolled foam to sleep on.  All in anticipation of enjoying the sun and surf.  Everyone is laughing, waving and calling out to friends.  Some have started to celebrate early with a glass in hand of clear "liquid" or a beer.  The traffic jam today reminded me of Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale.   There are 2 tiny beach communities that will be packed with the locals from surrounding towns and maybe the mountains.  It's tradition here to head for the beach this particular week and especially Thursday through Sunday.

This prompts me to ask the question:  What is the significance of Semana Santa if everyone is at the beach?

In the past, we asked that question to the boys that have lived with us to make sure they knew the meaning of Easter.  Well, we found out they had never heard of "Easter".  When we explained the meaning of Easter, we were corrected "oh, you mean Semana Santa".  The answers we received were very shocking and that is when we knew we had our work cut out for us in sharing the gospel and it's message for everyone's life.

The answer we received was:  Semana Santa, that is when we get a week off school and we get to go to the beach.  

Never in a million years would we have thought that people living in an evangelized nation would not know the significance of Semana Santa or Holy Week.

That one answer gave us a good understanding of what little our boys knew about the Gospel and the task we had before us.

It's been a year since we received that answer and we are continuing to teach daily the significance of Christ's sacrifice.

We are all for a good time at the beach, the people because of their hard work have earned the time to relax. So many of the families have little opportunity to vacation.  I pray that they will take a few moments and reflect on the reason for "this season".  

Jesus, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, gave His all so that we would have it all - abundant life and life ever lasting.