We were in a closed country last month, which is why I haven’t blogged recently. My team and I are now in Thailand preparing to begin our 10th month of ministry! This month is “manistry” and “womanistry”, which means that the men will be in a different ministry location than the women. So excited to spend time loving on my sweet sisters and to see what this month holds!
Today I did something I never imagined myself doing: I climbed the Great Wall. As I stood on the crumbling stones that line the wall, I wondered how something so beautiful could represent something so hideous. Division. War. Death. Injustice.
I sat and admired the beauty of the surrounding mountains while thinking about the fact that people poured their entire lives into building something that is decaying, something that has no eternal value whatsoever. The once steady and firm cornerstones of the foundation are now scattered pebbles, all because the materials used weren’t strong enough to withstand the many seasons throughout the years.
I was overwhelmed with sadness for the people that wasted their life doing something that truly is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. People that never got a glimpse of what it means to live a life full of freedom and abundant joy.
I was reminded of the parable of building a house on the rock and the sand. How many times do we become distracted by things that are meaningless? How many times do we commit a large portion of our lives to something that isn’t expanding the Kingdom? We jump at the chance to pursue the newest thing…but we’ve found out all too often that the saying “all that glitters isn’t gold” is definitely the truth. We build our houses in the sand, when the rock is sitting there giving us the invitation to build on something sturdy.
I don’t want to waste my life on something that doesn’t really matter. I won’t. I refuse. I don’t want to build any part of my life in the sand, which can be swept away by the wind at any given moment. I want a solid foundation of rock; something that doesn’t give out when I stumble around in all of my struggles and weaknesses.
Some people view the fact that I went to A&M and am not using my degree as wasteful, which I think is just a minor detail in comparison to what God has for me. If you would have asked me a few years ago what my life would look like at almost 24, my prediction would have been sadly mistaken. A job, house, family…you know, the whole picket fence bit.
But, God is changing my heart daily. I’m exchanging my own selfish desires in return for His desires for the next step of my life. Yeah, I left my job and my life behind for 11 months…big deal, go me…that’s actually nothing in comparison to the disciples.
I’m not really sure what’s next, but I do know that I choose to build on the rock rather than in the sand. I do know that I choose to have faith in an unknown future rather than one that I’ve planned out for myself. If I’m going to waste my life on anything, it’s going to be Jesus.
