Guardian Angels: Standing in the Gap

by the Rev. Dr. Brad Munroe

January 21, 2007

 

            The apostle Paul said of his own ministry, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).  Paul’s reminder to the Corinthian Church was that the power of ministry comes not from human fullness but God’s faithfulness, not from our own goodness but God’s grace.  The ministry of Guardian Angels in Chihuahua, Mexico bears witness to the truth of Paul’s words.

 

*****

 

            Ben Perea is the heartbeat of Guardian Angels.  Founder, leader, fundraiser, program manager, primary – and sometimes only – volunteer, full-time cheerleader: Ben is all of these things.  A genial man, born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado, retired from his career as a contractor, Ben does not present as a man of worldly power.  He neither dresses in expensive suits nor flaunts an elite education; he neither speaks with the eloquence of a preacher nor plans with the cunning of a politician.  Ben is a “jar of clay,” and, like Paul before him, God is at work to show an all-surpassing power.

 

            Seven years ago Ben Perea was invited to visit an orphanage in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Little did he realize that this visit would change his life forever.  The trip from Pueblo, Colorado to Chihuahua, Mexico seemed far, sixteen hours of driving, but the trip to the orphanage farther still, into another world.  Ben speaks passionately of his first reaction to the plight of the orphans he encountered:

 

When I arrived I saw a group of children inside this broken down van and I asked what they were doing there.  The reply was that they were looking for something that was edible.  As curious as I was, I looked inside and to my surprise I could not believe what I saw.  They had just given them a van load of food that was not even fit for the pigs to eat!

 

Ben felt the burning of this injustice immediately.

 

I was shocked to see little children with nothing to eat and very little clothes or shoes.  With tears in my eyes, I lifted up my head to Heaven and cried, “God, how could you allow these little children to go through such suffering?  Do something.

 

And God did.  God sent Ben to the children of Chihuahua.

 

*****

 

            It has been seven years since Ben began his ministry as an “angel” to the children of Chihuahua. During these past seven years, Ben estimates, he has visited the children almost 100 times, bringing hundreds of tons of food, dozens and dozens of closets full of clothing, warehouses full of building supplies.  His list of accomplishments are difficult to imagine coming from one man: the purchase of two acres of land, the planting of fruit trees on the land, the building of a chapel to worship God, the building of a small dwelling to house the family who oversees the orphanage, the building of a two story multi-purpose building as rooms for the children as well as classroom space and even a computer training area! 

 

            Ben’s list of “accomplishments” cannot be measured in mere buildings, however.  The impact he has made on the families of the destitute neighborhood in which the Guardian Angels orphanage is located is beyond measurement, for he has renewed their faith, given them hope and inspired them to love. 

 

Maria Guzman Arana is a portly woman, married, with seven children.  Three years ago Mrs. Arana’s husband, Salvador, was diagnosed with a brain tumor; he could not work and had no access to the surgical care required to save his life.  Though busy with building priorities that demanded adequate shelter be built for the children, Ben was not too busy to help Mr. Arana.  By selling handmade, toy scorpions made out of scrap metal, Ben was able to raise enough money for Mr. Arana to see a doctor.  Yet for three long years, the Arana’s had to wait, without work, without welfare, scratching and searching for ways to feed their children. In a thank you note addressed to Ben and translated into English, Mrs. Arana writes:

 

I give a million thanks to God our Lord, that He put you in our path Brother Benji.  We are succeeding now because you have helped us with clothing, shoes and, above all, food.  If it had not been for you, my children would not have gone to school.  You have been like a second father for children in need.

 

I am grateful with all my heart to Christ Jesus.  May God watch over you. May He always accompany you on your trips to the United States.  May He always be your doctor, your companion and your mechanic.  I also pray that God will watch over all the Americans that help you and may He multiply them a thousand times over for all they send.

 

Ben would argue vehemently against giving himself any credit for the help offered to families like the Guzman Aranas or to the children of the Guardian Angels orphanage:

 

God always has an answer and a plan.  He allowed me to go and see and feel and expose myself to the children’s plight, to move me into action and concern.  It would have been difficult for me to become motivated to help these children without first seeing and feeling their needs.  This was God’s answer: getting me there to share this great responsibility with him.

 

According to Ben’s theology, he is but an instrument of God’s larger plan: “I have been the hands of God, but you have provided the much needed supplies.”  Indeed, churches, individuals, other non-profit organizations and even corporations have supported Ben.  The Target corporation and Care and Share, a leading non-profit in Southern Colorado, regularly donate pallets of food.  Dr. Byron Beard, a dentist, and his wife Becky have provided dental care during a four day mission trip.  Judge Dennis Maes is such a regular visitor to the Guardian Angels orphanage that the children know him by name.

 

*****

 

            Among the church community, many contribute but only two, Broadway Christian Church and First Presbyterian Church, both of Pueblo, have formed groups to go with Ben to minister to “the least of these” in Chihuahua.  One of the groups who attended was a men’s group from First Presbyterian.  The men gathered were a common collection of mainline churchgoers: a banker, an engineer, a businessman, a doctor, a couple of artists, a painter and a pastor. Only the doctor and pastor were veterans of a mission experience. 

 

Upon pulling into Chihuahua, the men noted how the city was more affluent than they expected: a large university, Home Depot, Kentucky Fried Chicken and, of course, Wal-Mart dotted the landscape.  But this was not the Chihuahua to which they were going.  Through the middle class neighborhoods, on paved streets, past the businesses they drove; into a neighborhood of hovels, garbage and stray dogs they went.  Upon arriving at the orphanage, the banker looked around with tears brimming his eyes: “I can’t believe the kids have to live like this,” he confessed to the pastor.  “This is the Ritz Carlton,” the pastor responded, “wait until you see the rest of the neighborhood.”

 

Indeed, the pastor proved prophetic.  Among the food items the Target Corporation had donated were several cases of chocolate Pop Tarts.  After unloading all of their supplies, the men jumped into their twelve passenger church van to tour the neighborhood and pass out “chocolates” to the children.  If you have ever seen ants come spiraling out of a colony, you have an idea what it looked like to watch the children of that neighborhood spring toward the van.

 

“May I have a chocolate, please, senor,” asked a boy of eleven who looked six due to his small stature brought on by chronic malnutrition.  “Sure,” answered Ben.  “And one for my brothers and sisters, please,” the boy stammered, shy and humble.  “Yes, yes, sure,” replied Ben enthusiastically, “how many brothers and sisters do you have? “  “Nine, senor.”  “Nine it is,” answered Ben as he passed out the treats; seemingly this was the only food this family would have on that day.

 

At another stop, three elderly woman and a young girl of perhaps three or four sat outside a house.  The house was small, one room, made of concrete bricks, scrap plywood and a corrugated metal roof that had a porch extending five feet beyond the front of the house.  As Ben engaged the women and child in conversation, it became apparent that the house did not belong to them.  “Where do you live, then?” Ben asked.  “We live on the porch.  The family who lives in the house lets us stay here since we have no place else to go,” came their reply.  The silence in the van when Ben relayed the substance of his conversation with these three elderly women and the little girl in their charge was the sound of seven hearts breaking as one.

 

*****

 

            It has not always been easy for Ben to be the jar of clay through whom God shows forth his all-surpassing power.  Like the apostle Paul before him, Ben has experienced difficulties and dilemmas both expected and unexpected: the constant requirement to raise money, the recruitment of volunteers, wear and tear on his truck, even the time his brakes broke down in Mexico when he was without a cell phone, credit card or enough money to call home!  One can imagine the conversation Ben had with his wife upon arriving home after being considered “missing” for three days.  Yet through it all Ben has persevered.  Like the apostle Paul before him, Ben has discovered not only the all-surpassing power of God but the all-sustaining power of God:

 

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.  Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 15-18)

 

            In the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet records God’s search in Judah for one who could bear the people’s burdens, who could shine the light of example upon a culture where the justice of God had been forgotten.

 

I looked for a man among the people who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. (Ezekiel 23:20).

 

In this verse from Ezekiel, God laments the loss of heart from among his people, the loss of compassion, the loss of the courage to love, the loss of the simple decency to say, “No, this shall not stand,” when confronted with hungry children.  What God did not find in Judah during the days of Ezekiel, he called forth in our own day in Pueblo: a man willing to stand in the gap, willing to give of himself for the sake of others in obedience to God.

 

            Ben Perea is that man.  The Guardian Angels orphanage is his ministry.  Providing for hungry children is his mission.

 

            In his last parable in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus reminded his followers of one of our most sacred and holy obligations:

 

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you visited me…Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:35-36, 40)

 

Will you join Ben by standing in the gap?  Will you answer God’s call to you to feed and clothe hungry children?  Will you give money to the Guardian Angels?  Or even more importantly, will you give yourself by visiting the children of Chihuahua with Ben?  As you do unto the children, you do unto Jesus.

 

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