This month of the Race, my team was given a unique opportunity. Adventures in Missions calls it an “Ask the Lord” or just simply, “ATL” month. Some people cringe at the inconsistency a month like this can bring, but I find the unknown kind of exhilarating. This is how Jesus originally wanted ministry to look like anyway when he sent out his first disciples.
This month we have no plan, no agenda and no one telling us what we have to do and where we have to go. The flexibility is refreshing, and the situations we find ourselves in are unlike anything we could ever have planned.
Situations much like what happened today…
God blessed us this week with a beautiful mansion to stay in that overlooks the Himalayan mountain range. From the roof, it’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever gotten to lay my eyes on. But when I got down from the roof, walked down the three flights of stairs, headed out the door and walked to the river bank, the sight was unremarkable in a different way.
Squatter shacks made of wooden poles and tin scraps line the river bank. The contrast of the Himalayan snow peaks and the rusted tin was a crazy sight to see. Our team instantly looked at these squatters as a ministry opportunity.
Three days after the initial thought, a couple teammates and I decided to head to the banks. We brought nothing with us except a few handfuls of Nepali tracks with the story of Jesus. When we were heading across the cable bridge, we noticed a group of people standing on the shore. We didn’t think much of it because there is a Hindu festival going on and a family gathering is the norm.
When we got across the bridge, we headed towards a staircase that would lead us down to the water. At the same time we arrived at the staircase, that same group of people started walking up the stairs. We took this opportunity to pass out a track as each person passed us by.
As we walked closer to the water, we saw that there were a few men still standing by the shore around a small fire. When we handed a track to one man, he welcomed us over to his friends. Right before we got to the fire he told us the purpose of their gathering was because a small child had just died. He didn’t speak a lot of English, so this was really the only information we could understand.
We thought back to that group of people walking up the stairs and realized that we just handed booklets that talked about meeting Jesus after you die, unknowingly to a group of Hindus who had just got done a cremation ceremony for a life that was way too short.
God knew the hope this group of people needed, so he sent us as that sign of hope.
