I wrote this blog post while travelling in Indonesia. I recognize it has taken me a while to post it, but hope you still enjoy it.
This month [month 4 in Indonesia] my team is doing what is called Unsung Heros. Generally when we enter a country we are assigned to a ministry who we partner with for the entire month. During Unsung Heros month we do not have a ministry with whom to partner. Instead we seek God and look for ministries we have not yet heard of to make known the work that they are doing and look for new opportunities to partner alongside what God is doing in the countries we visit. Given this purpose the structure of each day is very loose. We are not given a place to stay or specific instructions on how to spend our days. We are just given a budget and the purpose to find those Unsung Heros and are invited to trust God to provide for us. This sort of work comes with a lot of mixed feelings. On one sense there is the fear of unknown and yet there is also the excitement of wondering how God will move.
Given the purpose of Unsung Heros, to share what God is doing around the world, I also sense there is a pressure to see amazing things happen. I noticed some Facebook posts from some of my team members explaining how good God is and how he provided for us. A friend of mine commented to me how it sounded like God was doing marvelous things for us this month. As I read those posts and heard my friend’s comment I personally thought that there comments seemed a bit over the top for what happened. Yes, we found a hotel in our budget, but I guess I expected that to be the case. Yes we met some people who shared their home with us, but again I expected that to be the case. Yes we arrived safely, but I expected that to be the case. There was nothing special about what had happened in my eyes it was the normal experiences of everyday life. I thought about my reactions and wondered whether or not I was being closed to God and what He was doing.
I agreed with the truth of the statements that God is faithful and He did provide and I am grateful for that, but as I thought about it, is that not the case daily. I started to wonder if it wasn’t a matter of what was being shared, but rather that it was only being shared in this context under the pressure of Unsung Heros month. People are expecting God to work so we highlight every little thing as a move of God. And it is, but then so is the fact that I am still breathing. This can even be expanded to the World Race in general. We came on this journey hoping and expecting to see God move and can feel the pressure of expectations to come back changed thus everything is highlighted in that light.
As I think about it more the truth is God is faithful to His children. Not just in months doing Unsung Heros, not just on the World Race, but in everyday normal (maybe even mundane life). The challenge is are we recognizing the goodness and faithfulness of God in those everyday moments when there is not pressure to tell the stories. Are we recognizing and sharing God in the everyday not just when we are under pressure. This month God has been faithful and he has bless my team and time and time again. He is amazing and He is marvelous, but in truth I claim that not because I have seen Him do marvelous or amazing things this month, but because that is who He is, and my personal prayer is that I recognize that every day no matter what that day holds.
