It was close to midnight. It was hot. We were packed in a van with no A/C and our legs were sticking together with sweat as if we were conjoined twins. We were tired. We were cranky. We were soar from the bumpy roads that the Philippines offer in abundance. We had been in the van for almost 12 hours with only a few short stops to drop off the relief supplies we spent days packing. We were less than 10 miles from the house that had our meal prepared for us and was a safe place to sleep for the night. But we were on the side of the road, waiting. Stray dogs were walking by and starring as if to ask, “Why is this van of white people sitting on the side of the road?” The smell of trash and sea wafted into the van along with the sound of the karaoke bars we had just passed.
We had hired a truck and driver to carry our supplies while we rode in a van in front. But the truck stopped right in front of the bars. He refused to drive any further because he was tired and he could not go on. And as we sat there in silent frustration, I wondered how many times we do this with God. How many times does He have a feast prepared for us, a bed to sleep in and feel safe in, a season of rest and of fulfillment, a season of growth, yet we refuse to do anything but to stay where we are, to not move? We’re tired and we’re in pain and we just want the drive to be over.
The truck driver stayed where he was for the night (with a few of the men that went with us). We ventured on and within an hour we were fed and given a place to sleep. We were rewarded with rest, safety, and sustenance. The truck driver was probably not a Christian, so he couldn’t grasp the importance of going further, of not giving up. But we as Christians, with so much growth and good to be done, have no excuse for becoming stationary. For Paul wrote in Galatians: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
It’s planting season here in the Philippines. The rice fields are full of men and women picking out the old crop and putting in the new. And harvest season will be just as busy. But if they decide to stop planting, if the pain of labor in their bodies is too great, there will be no harvest. There will be no honor to their previous labor. However, they press on. Through the pain, the heat, and the mud. And there will be a great harvest, much like the harvest we will have if we refuse to give up.
