Soy El Rey

I am King

King of whom? Or what, I suppose is a better question. Ironically enough, I started this blog off with the understanding that I would need to rely on God during this internship. And yet here I am recognizing and confessing my failure to take this understanding to heart. Today during one of the biweekly meetings I attended (yet again to take photos with the camera I always seem to forget) I noticed a peculiar site. Admist the rather boisterous crowd of women in the back of a metal works shop was graffiti written on the suit-crusted wall, darker in color than it should be from the dirt and grime of years of hard labor in this shop. Well, actually there were a few artworks of graffiti layered over one another, but the one that stuck out to me, or rather the one I understood immedietely, proudly stated: SOY EL REY.

I am King. It honestly didn't mean much at the time, beyond the fact that I was proud I understood it. However, this elated feeling quickly passed once I realized a four year old Dominican could understand this sentance. But that is just it. At lunch I left the meal a little early. I am tired of the rice, the chicken, the bland flavors (no hot sauce? I miss Mexico!), the poverty, the heat, and the long work days. And I am tired of being sick, this darn cold has got to go..


And so I journaled, complaining to myself at just how horrible my life was, when the realization that I still had 9 weeks to go hit me. And while I didn't freak, I did start to wonder if this was me telling myself I wasn´t able to complete this internship.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Then my reading from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers came to mind. The reading today was from Matthew 11:28. Honestly, this is such a typical passage, and when I first read it I thought to myself that perhaps Ozzie had just needed an easy devo to write for today, so he chose this passage. I mean, how many sermons have we heard on this? The reality is that no, he meant it because in his own life he needed the proper "rest." And while maybe his rest wasn´t while he was in the DR, he understood the need to rely on God.

Soy El Rey

The fact is that God is King, like it or not. Personally, that means those times I don't think I can force another bite of bland rice down my throat again without my stomach bursting over from pounds and pounds of carbohydrates; or when I realize that I am poor for the summer in many ways, is when I must relinquish control over to God.

But it also means this, God is King of all things created. Me, my anger, my selfishness, this office, and even Leonardo, the man that lives in the neighborhood near the office and loves to share with me the words in English he knows. But He also created that shanty, hidden below a bridge in downtown Santiago. Where wooden walls are propped up against one another and the bank of the river is no longer dirt but bottles and paper. That is His kingdom too, and He rules over it just as much as He rules over my emotions.

Honestly, this understanding incites me more, but perhaps anger isn't necessarily a bad thing. I must, however, give control of it over to the King.

Soy El Rey