I take in the new view from my bedroom window. The bus stop outside is only frequented by one or two people at any given time. Hagley Road is a busy street, but the constant English rain keeps the people indoors. There is a beautiful park that faces the little flat where I'm staying with Drew and Michelle. It has replaced my old view of dorm rooms with its loud inhabitants. I no longer hear the thunder of lightening with the passing storm. It's been replaced with the constant hum of rain pouring down on the street outside. Waking up to sun casting light through my window has become a precious rarity. Instead I wake up to Victoria Rose peering at me through the slates of her crib. She clings to her blanky with one hand as she sucks her thumb with the other.
The days are no longer filled with English lessons and impromptu pizza runs. Evenings no longer hold student activities or prayer meetings. Dear friends are now a Skype call away instead of a five minute walk down the hill. Intimate conversations have been replaced with introductions and the exchange of pleasantries. Familiar bursts of group laughter from the next room are no longer distinguishable. Life has again become foreign.
BUT "let brotherly love continue." These words jump out from the pages of Hebrews where I have been spending my quiet time for the last few months. They resound in my head like a deafening call. I read on... "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow." HE is the same even if my surroundings are not. I can feel my heart crying for the familiarity of yesterday, but God calls me to the responsibilities of today. Tomorrow will bring more change, but God calls me to nevertheless let brotherly love continue. All of the first meetings and pleasantries I have exchanged are all part of God's plan. They may seem to me as strangers, but to God they are tools. They play an important and precious part in my life for the next four months.
As I struggle through these first encounters and waves of culture shock, God guides me through His promise. He never changes. His will is constant. I can have peace because He has laid out every single detail of my life before me. Every bump in the road has a purpose. Every hurdle is an opportunity for me to grow deeper in my love for Him and more constant in my faith.
This blog is appropriately called On a Mission. When I first envisioned what this blog would communicate, I saw a mission filled with new culture and ministry. I saw the world around me changing for all to see. I saw a testimony of obedience that would speak to friends and family. I envisioned new life experiences that would expand my worldview and increase my knowledge. My future would finally become clear. God would set my path, leading to a form of ministry for Gospel hungry people. But I was blinded by the tangible work in front of me. I was deceived by my own haughty expectations. This mission is not about a collection of experiences to include on a spiritual resume. The mission itself is ME.
If I take a step back and look at the last six months, I see a lot of experiences, a lot of travel. When I look forward to the next six months I see more experiences and more travel. But then what? Do I just carry it around with me so I can relay my stories to others? Does it just end with story telling? No, because that doesn't lead to action. All the experiences in the world doesn't do anyone any good if they don't allow God to work inside them first. If they don't allow God to use their experiences to mold them more in His image then there will be no real change. This trip has shown me that God is changing me as a person, not adding countries to my passport. He is molding ME into the path I'm going to take in the future. I am the path. It's not a collection of people, places and things. It's just me. I don't know where I will be when I get home in six months. But I know I'm not going to step off that plane the same person as I left. And because of that God will use me in His divined will.
So let brotherly love continue no matter where I might be.No matter who I might be ministering with. Let my faith hold fast to the knowledge that God is the same and He will never leave me or forsake me. The perfecting of my faith has taken another notch of carving into my identity with Christ. To Him be the glory.
The days are no longer filled with English lessons and impromptu pizza runs. Evenings no longer hold student activities or prayer meetings. Dear friends are now a Skype call away instead of a five minute walk down the hill. Intimate conversations have been replaced with introductions and the exchange of pleasantries. Familiar bursts of group laughter from the next room are no longer distinguishable. Life has again become foreign.
BUT "let brotherly love continue." These words jump out from the pages of Hebrews where I have been spending my quiet time for the last few months. They resound in my head like a deafening call. I read on... "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow." HE is the same even if my surroundings are not. I can feel my heart crying for the familiarity of yesterday, but God calls me to the responsibilities of today. Tomorrow will bring more change, but God calls me to nevertheless let brotherly love continue. All of the first meetings and pleasantries I have exchanged are all part of God's plan. They may seem to me as strangers, but to God they are tools. They play an important and precious part in my life for the next four months.
As I struggle through these first encounters and waves of culture shock, God guides me through His promise. He never changes. His will is constant. I can have peace because He has laid out every single detail of my life before me. Every bump in the road has a purpose. Every hurdle is an opportunity for me to grow deeper in my love for Him and more constant in my faith.
This blog is appropriately called On a Mission. When I first envisioned what this blog would communicate, I saw a mission filled with new culture and ministry. I saw the world around me changing for all to see. I saw a testimony of obedience that would speak to friends and family. I envisioned new life experiences that would expand my worldview and increase my knowledge. My future would finally become clear. God would set my path, leading to a form of ministry for Gospel hungry people. But I was blinded by the tangible work in front of me. I was deceived by my own haughty expectations. This mission is not about a collection of experiences to include on a spiritual resume. The mission itself is ME.
If I take a step back and look at the last six months, I see a lot of experiences, a lot of travel. When I look forward to the next six months I see more experiences and more travel. But then what? Do I just carry it around with me so I can relay my stories to others? Does it just end with story telling? No, because that doesn't lead to action. All the experiences in the world doesn't do anyone any good if they don't allow God to work inside them first. If they don't allow God to use their experiences to mold them more in His image then there will be no real change. This trip has shown me that God is changing me as a person, not adding countries to my passport. He is molding ME into the path I'm going to take in the future. I am the path. It's not a collection of people, places and things. It's just me. I don't know where I will be when I get home in six months. But I know I'm not going to step off that plane the same person as I left. And because of that God will use me in His divined will.
So let brotherly love continue no matter where I might be.No matter who I might be ministering with. Let my faith hold fast to the knowledge that God is the same and He will never leave me or forsake me. The perfecting of my faith has taken another notch of carving into my identity with Christ. To Him be the glory.
