After experiencing the last 11 months of missional living, I have discovered that there is so much more than what meets the eye. There is something magical that happens when looking deeper into the soul of another across the world.
A chance to learn.
To grow.
To change.
Living life overseas has shifted my views, transformed my thoughts, and opened my heart to a new way of seeing life.
I remember the exact moment that my heart shifted and the way I viewed the world around me changed. Our team was sent to Changlun, Malaysia month five of the race and we learned to live in a majority muslim culture. As our team weaved through the countless stands of a busy market in search of our supper, woman after woman walked past me with her entire body covered from head to toe. Glancing at the headdresses of two women across from me, I was met with their smiling eyes. In that God-ordained moment, it just hit me like a wave of bricks… living amongst other cultures had become my new normal.
This was another market.
This was another culture.
This was another place that had new faces.
My shock value had been released and I was comfortable. I felt almost like I was standing in the ‘Kroger‘ of Malaysia. Something as profound as experiencing a hectic Muslim market in Changlun no longer phased me. This notion made me stop in the midst of what may have seemed like chaos to the cultural construct I had been raised with in order to ask myself a few questions.
Where is the shock value I had been taught my whole life?
Why have I become so numb to the cultural differences planted in plain vision?
What is God doing in me that is different from before?
After 11 months, there is no longer division of cultures. God does not see color, race, religion, appearance, or even the physical. There is no longer a label of separation nor a construct I am forcing myself to follow. There is just people.
People. period.
All the little girls diagnosed with a disability that I held in my arms month one in India. The Nepalese woman who opened her home and invited us in to pray for her son who was sick. The Cambodian children who revealed their hunger for Jesus daily. The Burmese refugees who survived in the streets of Mae Sot. Having multiple orphaned children in Namibia fall asleep on your lap under a canopy of stars. Baptizing seven boys I’ll never forget at the beach in Haiti.
Over the past 11 months I have seen and met more people than I could ever possibly count. Their stories, their lives, and their reality has transformed the way I see the world. It is no longer with my eyes, but with my heart. Each person I met this year has taught me how to love with the eyes of God’s heart for the nations.
Learn to love people no matter where you find yourself.
Today.
