So, by God’s
goodness and grace, I made it through the third month of the World Race. Hallelujah! Only eight months left. . . ah, the passage of time is such a
contradiction. At the start of our
ministry in each country, 3 weeks = an eon. By the time we’ve acclimated to the place and rhythm and the people, our
ministry concludes and we debrief, preparing to repeat the cycle in our next
destination.
It’s been an
interesting month. I don’t know if I
want to describe it as pivotal as I still feel like I’m close to the beginning
of this journey, but the path certainly took a turn. The honeymoon is over, and different realities have set in for
me.
Start with
reading Neil’s most recent awesome blog, “Stripped. . .”, which all started with him, as leader, taking time
to ask me how I was doing. Out of our
conversation, we both got a better picture of what Mother Teresa meant when she
said that we don’t do great things, but small things with great love. It’s been all to easy to gloss over what it
means to love one another as Christ loves us, or to take at face value that of
faith, hope and love, the greatest is love.
One of my
teachers in high school said that physics is simple; it’s not easy, but it’s
simple. What he said applies to a lot
in life, but I found this month especially that this description is most
applicable to love.
Last month,
I had been reading through the book of John and his account of Jesus washing
the disciples’ feet struck me.
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that
his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his
own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was
going back to God, rose from supper. He
laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began
to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped
around him.
– John 13:1-5 (ESV)
Jesus knew exactly how it was all gonna go down: the betrayal, the abandonment, the
punishment, the separation, the pain. . . and still, how deliberately he kneels
before his followers – in John 15, He tells them they’re His friends now – to
wash their dirty, stinky feet.
I’m sure many of you, our friends and family, think us so
noble and admirable for the sacrifices we made to go on this missions
trip. But let as assure you, we’re
simply obeying God; He prefers obedience to sacrifice. Also, I think it was easy to give up what we
did and much more difficult than we imagined to consider each other better than
ourselves in the petty things.
Don’t you know that love is different
than you think?
It’s never in a song or on a TV
screen.
And love is harder than a word said
at the right time
when everything’s alright.
I said love is different than you
think.
– “Love is Different”, Caedmon’s Call
Then Ian
invited me to read a three-part blog series he’s been working on, which I hope
is published on his blog by the time I post this one. He writes of the hype versus the reality of the World Race. Please check it out!
I had
finished reading Genesis a week earlier when Ian shared his thoughts, so the
story of Jacob came readily to mind as I mentally responded to them. Jacob is sent to Laban to escape from his
twin brother’s fury and to find a wife among his kin. As he stops by a well to ask some folks if they know Laban, they
point to Rachel, Laban’s daughter.
Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel. . . and the sheep of Laban.
. . Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth and watered the
flock of Laban. . . Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. . . Jacob loved
Rachel. And he said, “I will serve you
seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” . . . So Jacob served seven
years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he
had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban,
“Give me my wife. . . for my time is completed.” So Laban gathered together all the people. . . and made a
feast. But in the evening he took his
daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob. . . And in the morning, behold, it was
Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is
this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel?. . .
– Genesis 29:10, 18, 20-23, 25 (ESV)
Perhaps I
can empathize with Jacob. Please don’t
misunderstand me; I’m not disappointed by any means. Despite having spent a year researching and preparing myself, I
shed all the preconceptions and expectations. I surrendered so to avail myself fully to Jesus.
Yet it
appears even after the first few months, I haven’t been running this race full
speed. That is, everyone else is sprinting
and I’m jogging, per Allison (those weren’t her exact words, but I think that’s
the sentiment). What’s holding me back? Am I subconsciously trying to repeat someone
else’s World Race, one that I might’ve experience vicariously? It’s quite possible.
But I
wonder if the rest of the pack is running ahead at the same pace of past Races while
I’m trying to find my own rhythm and a new path. . . (to be continued).
