It’s crazy how much love you can give to another person in just a short amount of time.
Last night was our last night in Japan so we had a dinner party for us and our host families. We ate and talked and laughed and had a really great time. It was definitely hard for me because I grew to absolutely love my host family. I didn’t expect to fall in love with this family the way that I did. I mean, we were only in Japan for 3 weeks. That’s hardly any time to really impact a person and build a relationship with them, right?
God has a way of making an impact, regardless of how much time is spent with that person. In fact, a lot of the people in the New Testament who had life changing encounters with him were people he met in passing. People he only spent a very brief time with.
One example is the story of the woman with the issue of blood. In Mark 5, Jesus was actually on his way to visit Jairus’ sick daughter. So he’s walking through a crowd to get to his intended destination, when he noticed that somebody touched him. He called out, “who touched me” and the woman came forward to tell him the truth, and Jesus responded to her, “Go in peace and be healed” (v. 34).
Another example is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Jesus was on his way to Galilee where he stopped in a town in Samaria where he met this woman who is believed to have been an outcast and an adulteress. Jesus is having a conversation with her and starts revealing things to her about her life. She wonders who he is because she knows there is something different about him (he’s a Jewish male talking to a Samaritan woman.. that was unheard of in that day). He tells her that he is the Messiah and she left and told her whole town about the encounter she had with Jesus and not only was her life changed.. the whole town believed because of her testimony.
Something in common with both of these stories is that their time with Jesus was short.
A lot of times, I think that in order to make a difference, I have to spent so much time and things are a slow process. While that is true in some cases, it’s not true all the time.
The time that I spent with my host family is a time that I will cherish and never forget. God knew that we would spend 3 weeks together and that Norma (my roommate this month) and I would pray and pour into this family and show them what peace, hope, love and joy looks like.
At the end of our dinner party, we were saying good-byes and my host mom cried, and I cried, and the kids gave us the biggest hugs, and I didn’t want to let go. As my host mom said so many times, “time flies”.
We prayed for her and her family and I knew the Holy Spirit was moving so strong during that time. In that moment, I could tangibly feel a change in the atmosphere. And I will be continuing to pray for them and I pray that one day I will see them again.
I know that 3 weeks seems like nothing. But to God, a lot can happen in 3 weeks.. A lot can happen in just one moment.
Please pray for me and my squad as we are going into our fourth month on the race to Nepal.
#AlexsAsianInvasion
