This was written in sections about a week-week and a half ago but I never got around to posting it. Hope you enjoy!
I sit beside a road, wide with many lanes. I watch as countless people ride by, catching many stares even in my little corner. That’s fine, it’s typical here. Across the avenue sits the capital building. Tam Ký is the capital of the Quang Nam Province. I’m in Vietnam, it’s still hard to grasp that fact. I contemplate how this is real life. At the same time, I wonder at how life this month feels similar to life at home yet simultaneously is so drastically different. I think though, that the difference is not so much in what we do but in how we live out our faith.
We cannot go around talking to people about Jesus – this is in part because we don’t speak the language and also because it is illegal to share your faith without being prompted to do so). It is, however, okay to share about your beliefs if someone asks. If you think about it, this is a bit how we live in the States. In most of our day to day lives, we’re pretty quiet about what we believe. We don’t walk up to people and ask if they know Jesus. We are so afraid of being seen as trying to shove “religion” down people’s throats that we over correct in the opposite direction and say nothing at all.
Here in Vietnam, believers don’t keep silent. They look for opportunities to share and sometimes try to create those opportunities by asking leading questions. Do we in the States do this? Do we ever get past the superficial and talk about things like whether our lives have a satisfying meaning or if we have purpose? Do we look to make those opportunities?
When I was home, I didn’t. I think this month, where we aren’t constantly walking around praying and talking to people about Jesus or asking to pray for them, is starting to teach me what life is supposed to look like back home. It’s been heavy on my mind that I don’t want to get home in seven months and slip right back into things as they were. I don’t want to go home and have life feel like the Race never happened.
I’m now sitting in a stairwell, white walls and frosted glass meet the gray granite floor. I’m sitting in a stairwell, full of natural light. I’m sitting in a stairwell, where I can have space, be alone, and be in a different room than the one I’ve lived in for the past twelve days. Why not write a blog?
A blog in fragmented, disjointed pieces but that’s how my thoughts are at the moment. A lot is going on in my mind, thoughts of home, thoughts of how slow ministry feels this month yet how exhausting everything is, thoughts of how maybe we’ve just reached that point of the Race where everything feels hard.
God has been doing different things this month, it’s been interesting for sure. I think most of the people on my squad are worn out, a lot are still also fundraising before our deadline on the 31st. Please be praying for us and financially support my squadmates if you feel led to! This journey and this squad would be sorely lacking without them!
