Confession time: ministry on the World Race rarely ever looks like you would expect it to. The reality is that sometimes we get asked to do things that seem utterly pointless, and we are expected to work at these things as though we were working for God and not man (Colossians 3:23-24). And even in the moments, we must believe that God is working. Especially in these moments.
This month, my team and I have been asked to spend hours upon hours doing things that seem utterly ridiculous- things like sanding down already-crumbling cement columns and painting an outside fence with interior, non-water resistant paint. As I stepped up to my first ant-infested cement column, my first thought was, literally: “This is ridiculous.” And then, He spoke. The Lord whispered into my thoughts and asked me to remember all the times that He has asked His people to do ridiculous things.
I redirected the river of sweat from my brow and paused to think about the Bible stories that I have heard a thousand times- Noah and the ark, Joshua and the walls of Jericho, Moses and the Red Sea. And then, I remembered- this is where God shows up and shows off. Here, in the seemingly ridiculous and strange and crazy, where all He’s asking of us is to be obedient. I thought about how we are called to obey the authority that God has put in place (Romans 13:1)- ie. our ministry hosts, and how we are to do everything without grumbling (Philippians 2:14-16). And I picked up my little yellow piece of sandpaper and went to town on that crumbling concrete wall. I decided right then and there that I will do whatever the Lord asks of me, no matter how ridiculous it seems. I will say yes to whatever He asks of me, because I believe that my God can and will do impossible things, and I don’t ever want to miss an opportunity to be used by Him.
As per usual, Katie Davis says it beautifully:
“Here’s the thing: I want big things from God. We want big things from God and then think it’s strange when He asks us to build an ark, or feed five thousand or march around a building for seven days with seven priests blowing trumpets made from rams’ horns. I am asking for big things from God. Big things like a van I can take my whole family to church in and a house with ten showers. Bigger things like 147 million orphaned children in the world to each have a mommy who knows what they like for dinner. So really, I am not surprised at the craziness of my life. Every morning, as I wake up with some impossible task in from of me, I know that God will meet it with impossible strength and love. I serve the God who used Moses, a murderer, to part the Red Sea; a God who let Peter, who would deny Him, walk on water. A God who looks at me, in all my fallen weakness and says, ‘You can do the impossible.'”
With love and wanderlust,
Cassady
