December came and brought all kinds of change with it. The three months prior I lived far out from a city in a team house filled with 47 people. This month, I stepped foot into the busy city of a country I had never heard of (and that I can’t share the name of… sorry), and it was just my 5 other teammates and I. We lived with our ministry hosts, a sweet and small Asian family of 3. They were beyond welcoming and generous with their one bedroom apartment and managed to use that space to not only host us, but also our classroom and church that were a part of our ministry.
The intent of this ministry was to teach English and invite students to church and build relationships with them. However, since the ministry was in the very beginning stages of starting up, there were no students and ministry looked like lots of prayer, passing out flyers, and pouring into the home church on Sundays.
I’ll be honest with you, it was hard to be out on the mission field feeling like I wasn’t fulfilling any type of mission. It may not seem like a big deal, but doubt filled my thoughts and encouraged my confusion, I began to wonder, why am I doing this if I’m not doing anything? What will my supporters think? Not seeing the point simply because I wasn’t seeing results, I had to remind my heart of what my head knew. We don’t have to see the fruit if we are called to just plant the seeds. On top of ministry confusion and frustration, I was emotionally and mentally exhausted with the lack of personal space, hard things back home, and spiritual warfare more present than I’ve seen before. My days were put to better use as a I started learning to reallyyy give my thoughts, feelings, and expectations to God. He had it all planned out and in His hands, I just had to trust Him with it. It’s so comforting, and almost too easy, when I don’t understand things to know that God is already behind, in, and ahead of them. Cool guy. I walked in hope like I never had before, genuinely trusting in His plan and will for me there, still curious as to what He was doing, but trusting in it.
Then came that carefree-ahah-oh-yeah sweet moment.
It was a Sunday and the 4 hour home church was beginning. I decided to sit separate from my team that day, for no reason at all, and was sitting in a plastic chair against the wall where a regular member sat to my left. He got pulled away to fulfill a task with the sound system, and just a few short moments after, a young man walked into the apartment and filled the empty seat next to me. Ever heard of a divine appointment? Here’s one. This 20 year old nicknamed “Hen” eagerly greeted me with impressive English and our conversational exchange of questions began. We talked about the appreciation we both held for the sights and structures of the city, and also found our differences, as he was graduating college two years early aaaand I am taking a gap year… yep. With an even greater shock, I came to find that Hen was a Buddhist sitting in a random Christian home church that consisted of people he had never even met, but of course he was more than welcomed. It took me a second, and then it sunk in. This is it. This is what I am here for. Now, what I am going to say may sound simple, but please allow it a chance so that you deeply understand the weight of the truth and importance it holds. Even if it be one person, that’s one person. A person who matters, and who’s life matters. Life that matters here and now. Life that matters eternally. A person’s eternal life. IT MATTERS! I felt a beautiful responsibility on my heart to pray for Hen throughout the duration of the church service and forever more. I also threw in some prayer in consideration of his perspective, both humorously and seriously that he would not get freaked out or change his mind due to the intensity and… beautifully strange way that we Christians sometimes tend to worship. At the end of it all, there was no fall to the floor salvation prayer and baptism on the spot, but Hen was introduced to the Lord in a room full of faithful believers. He had a glimpse of what we know as our freedom and truth. He got to see what we live by and stand for. He got to see authentic and genuine praise to the God we know as a father, protector, provider, and friend. There is no telling if and when the Lord will turn that glimpse into a personal revelation and experience for Hen, but I believe the glimpse did take place so that it can later be recalled on and used. Now I know to pray for this unbeliever that I got to know, but never would have met if I had been in the small unheard of Asian country any other month, or even if I had sat in any other chair. I have faith that it is in the timing and hands of the Lord, as everything else is, and that it doesn’t matter if it be now, several months, or 20 years down the road that the Lord calls Hen home, because he is one more person to be called home into the arms of the Father. Home into life with the Lord during these days we walk out into life eternally after. So boohoo at how I was feeling before, right? I’m not mad, upset, confused or concerned if God flew me halfway around the world to sleep on the floor and talk to one person about Jesus. Of course, His plan has proved bigger and better than that for these 9 months, but that month and that moment truly put into perspective the importance of one life that matters.
Psalm 46:10 ”Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 27:13-14 “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
