What Am I Doing Here…
This is a question I have asked myself more often than I would like to admit on this crazy journey. Sometimes it’s in the middle of an amazing moment that I cannot believe God chose to invite me into. At times it comes from people back home truly wanting to know what I am doing here. Other times it is when I am feeling “in over my head” and inadequate; unable to truly make a difference in the situation in front of me. This month God has shown me how simple my response should be when I find myself questioning “What am I doing here?”.
My teams first visit to the refugee camps here in Lebanon was incredible. We ended the day in a family’s tent… the six of us, two women and their children sat down on the floor of their home made of 2×4’s and Tyvek wrap. They welcomed us with cups of coffee. Our translator began to share Bible stories with them and they asked great questions! People slowly trickled in and by the end of the visit their small home was packed to the brim. Watching the people crowd in to hear the stories that our kind, soft spoken, translator shared was such a powerful picture for me of what it must have been like to be in a home where people crowded around Jesus’ feet soaking in the stories He told. We are literally telling the same stories He told and experiencing a very similar response. The Good News is just THAT GOOD! There is no reason to complicate it. That is what I am doing here.
Today while we were debriefing with our host organization we discussed how we should share these stories with our supporters and friends back home without devaluing a persons story or situation. Louis responded by first sharing out of Romans 10:14
“How then will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”
The people sending are just as important as the people going. And you have every right to hear the stories because they are stories that you made possible. These stories are part of your personal ministry.
So, how do I share those stories on the internet and protect the people who have shared with me? Again, the answer is more simple than we make it. Many of my favorite stories in the Bible are about unnamed people in undisclosed locations. They were unnamed for a reason. Perhaps the authors are protecting the honor and privacy of the people in the stories? That does not make the stories any less impactful!
So I have decided for our last week here in Lebanon I will share one story a day to try to give you a little better perspective of what I have been doing and how you sending me is impacting people.
