"Mil Disculpas!"

One of the frustrating things about doing ministry in Lima, Peru, is that the level of customer service in the city tends to be very, very low. A few examples:

1. Once my wife and I were in Starbucks (there are 25 of them in Lima), and one of the Starbucks workers spilled hot chocolate all over my wife's outfit. When I asked the worker if Starbucks would pay to launder my wife's ruined outfit, the Starbucks worker said no! The worker tried to pass it all off as an accident, and that the spilled hot chocolate was simply a risk that we undertook if we went to Starbucks. I asked to see the manager, who at first tried to hide in her office, thinking that we would give up and leave. Which we did not. When she finally emerged, I explained the situation to her. She, too, at first was resistant to paying to clean the ruined outfit. After a little bit more persuasion, she finally relented.

2. Another time my wife and I were at the local supermarket (part of the largest chain of supermarkets in Lima), and the bagboy forgot to include a bag of food when he was loading everything into our vehicle, and then he also placed another bag in our vehicle so close to the door that when we later opened the door, all the food fell out onto the street and was ruined. When we returned to the supermarket to tell them about what had happened, the bagboy once again tried to pass it all off as an accident, without any offer of replacing the ruined food or the other bag of food which he had simply forgotten to put in our vehicle. Once again it took a second conversation with a manager before everything was made right.

3. We recently were in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to retrieve two series' worth of materials (pull-up banners, bulletin shells, promotional cards, and small group materials) for FRC-Lima. We were returning to Lima with several heavy suitcases full of materials. We had hired an airport shuttle company to meet us at the airport with a large van, in order to bring us and the materials back to our apartment from the airport. When we arrived at the Lima airport, the shuttle company informed us (after we already had pre-paid) that they did not have any large vans for us, only a much smaller van, and that it was located on the other side of the airport, and that we would have to carry all of our luggage over to it. Supposedly the smaller van didn't have all of the necessary permits and licenses to meet us at the door of the airport. Since it was close to 1:00 AM when this was happening, and there were no other options at the airport, we had to take what they gave us. But they have lost a loyal customer.

Everytime these types of situations happen to us in Lima, the magical phrase that we hear is, "Mil disculpas!" "Mil disculpas!" means, literally, "One thousand pardons!" But "one thousand pardons" means nothing when it is not accompanied by appropriate service or restitution. "Mil disculpas!" in Lima, unfortunately, is usually accompanied by an "I-really-don't-care" attitude and nothing more.

It is, of course, a very frustrating situation to deal with, but then I think about whether or not we may do the same thing at times in ministry. Are there times in ministry when your actions are not matching your words? Are there times in ministry when you talk the talk, but then you don't walk the walk?

James 2:14-26 is all about faith and deeds, and all about putting our faith in action. James 2:14 (The Message) says, "Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?" James 2:17 (The Message) then says, "Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"

That's what was happening to us in Lima in each of the three incidents that I cited above. We were getting words, but no action. It was all talk ("Mil disculpas!") and no action, and it was, just as The Message says, "outrageous nonsense."

Are your actions backing up your words in your ministry? Or is there a bunch of "outrageous nonsense" instead? Poor customer service in Lima has taught me to make very sure that my actions back up my words. My walk has to back up my talk. It's a very important ministry lesson.