Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I got to celebrate Thanksgiving at an American buffet with my whole squad here in Thailand as our time has come to a close. This month has gone by fast, and in several days we pack up our things to take some very long bus and train rides all the way down to Malaysia. The month went well, we stayed at a hostel above a café downtown. My teams ministry this month was primarily going into the poorer areas in Chiang Mai and building relationships with the people their. It was humbling to see many people with so little still be so full of joy when we would show up to interact.
I feel I have grown a lot this month. Not too long ago our squad mentor asked us this question: “Why are we here?” He then went on to answer it. He said that the whole reason why we are here is “Intimacy with the Lord.” He explained how God doesn’t need us to do his work, he is fully capable without us, but he choses to work through us as a means for a relationship. He gave an analogy of a father building a porch and brings his child along. The father doesn’t need the child in order to build the porch but invites the child along and helps them as a means to building a relationship and having enjoyment.
It is not just the reason why we are on a mission trip, it is the reason for anything, the reason for why we have life. To know God. He didn’t create us simply to do work he could already do, but he created us for a relationship and gave us the ability to know him.
I believe he has revealed to me that greater intimacy with him does not come from striving to climb a “spiritual ladder” of sorts, but by simply letting go of everything more and more and being the real honest me that he created me to be. It is for our own good. His love for us does not hinge on where we are, who we are with, or what we are doing. He didn’t suffer on the cross to have his love move up and down according to our performance on matters in life.
I know God loves me as much as a missionary over seas as he does when I was a helper on the back of a garbage truck. I always knew this, but now truly believe it. It feels different when a truth makes its way from your head to your heart. No matter who you are, where you are from or what you do, you’re here to know God. When that happens the great commandments are fulfilled: Love God, Love others, and Love yourself. It is his pleasure and ours. At the end of the day I’m just E. And that’s what I’m supposed to be, just me. The real me, knowing the real him.
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3
