This year I have been wrestling with what it means to be set apart?
I am more appreciative than ever for the life I am blessed to come from and soon return to. Even if I dropped my pack for the rest of the year and abandoned all traces of the first world, I still have an American passport, a credit card that could get me home, a family and job to come back to, an education that is unparalleled in the third world, and hope not only for tomorrow but for eternity.
We are geographically separated from much of the globe and are protected by the same waters that set us apart 242 years ago. We have progressed on the basis of rights and liberties that the founding fathers granted us. We grew up in a world that lets us determine our own future and blaze our own trail.
At the end of the day, no matter where I go, my citizenship has afforded me many privileges. These are not simply attached to wealth and material luxurious, it is a mindset. It is global access, it is national security, it is the freedom to think, to learn, to explore, to believe. I have been granted boundless opportunities to discover the world and my place in it…to consider what lies beyond and within.
Today we enjoy advancements that both enhance and threaten our livelihood. We fly on planes, communicate on devices that get smaller and smarter, and purchases goods with plastic cards and pin numbers. I suppose this year has continually reinforced the notion that our greatest blessings can be burdens. How lucky am I to be burdened with a heart for His creation?
You see it’s different when a Volcanic eruption or earthquake in Indonesia means my “Bali family” could be in danger. It’s different when corruption and political unrest in Cambodia means my friends safety could be jeopardized.It’s different when oppression in Vietnam means my hosts could lose their home or job. It’s different when a war in the Balkans means the streets I used to walk and the lives of people I care about could be destroyed.
The faces of the people I have met this year are forever engraved in my mind. Their voices ring in my ears telling me their testimonies, their stories, their struggles and their greatest sorrows. At the same time I will never forget the love, joy, and overwhelming hospitality they have repeatedly shown me.
These people have made a lasting impression on my life for the better. As we grow in awareness and expose ourselves to that which exists beyond our line of sight, there stops being an “us” and a “them.” We start paying more attention to the world around us and notice His creation, teeming with life.
When this year is done, and my race is run, the finish line will simply mark a new beginning. Going forward there is so much to do for His kingdom and for His people. How am I able to see the unseen, reach the unreached, and love the unloved? I don’t have to be in Asia or a remote village to do this. I feel both grateful and responsible. This is what makes my mind race and my heart break.
