This month my team and I are in Yangon, Myanmar. Most of you all reading this probably don’t know what Myanmar is or where it is located. I myself was in the same boat before the race began. This country is in Southeast Asia and borders Thailand and India. We are working with an organization called Compassion in Action. They run a missionary school here that is training young men and women to speak and read English. Their hope is to teach these kids English while also teaching them the bible, so that one day they will be equipped to go out and make disciples in these specific language speaking countries.
At the site we are at here in Yangon, we have three different teams. Our job while being here this month is to teach these students, while others do whatever manual labor there is to do throughout that day. Each team also has different duties we have to accomplish each day in our living area. For instance, on Monday Team A has to cook breakfast for the entire group and afterwards teach the morning block of classes, which are from 9am to 12pm. Team B has to cook lunch for the entire group, and after that teach the afternoon session of classes, which are from 1pm to 3pm. Team C has breakfast clean up, lunch clean up, living area clean up, and they also have to cook dinner for the entire group. I forgot to mention that in addition, we also have a morning worship session at 830am and an evening worship session at 6pm where our teams get the opportunity to lead worship for all the students and racers every weekday. One person out of all of the teams also gets to preach each of the morning and night services everyday.
Needless to say it is a very busy schedule.
Between breakfast prep, cleanup, morning service, morning classes, lunch prep, lunch cleanup, afternoon classes, dinner prep, dinner cleanup, night service, and team time, we also have to find time to go grocery shopping, write blogs, do laundry, workout, build relationships, prepare for our sermons (when our day to preach comes), use squatty-potties, take bucket showers, and get alone with God, all while the electricity and water sporadically flip on and off. I usually spend time with God at the end because sometimes that is how my list of priorities ends up being.
The source of my joy and energy and the reason I am doing this race barely makes it into my schedule sometimes…doesn’t that sound ridiculous.
One of the first stories we shared to this group of students on this campus here at Compassion in Action was the creation story. We taught about how everything was created and how man fell because of the sins of Adam and Eve. While reading over these chapters I ran across a couple verses that have never stood out to me until now. The Bible says in Genesis 3:17, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you.” And in verse 19 it says, “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat…”
This is so applicable to what I am dealing with here and now. Since there is so much to do each day and so many things to accomplish, I have been struggling to have some quality alone time with Jesus. I have been helping lead the bible classes and have helped do worship during the services, but sometimes I have to think about why I am doing it. When I do things over and over it can quickly become a routine. It gets so easy trying to accomplish things in God’s name without knowing if he is actually a part of it.
Adam and Eve had it easy in the garden before the fall of man. The bible says that God came down and walked with them in the cool of the day. They never had to work for food or shelter much less work to have intimate moments with God, but because of their sin, there was a great separation between God and man. God has since redeemed the fall of man through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but still through that there are many things fighting for our attention.
While being here in Myanmar we are doing some amazing ministries. We are helping to make a serious future kingdom impact on this country through the students we are teaching everyday. But through this semi-intense schedule I have, it has been hard to submit my checklist mentality under the authority of God. For some reason I subconsciously think that since I am doing so many things “in God’s name” that that should be enough rather than actually spending quality time with him, especially at the end of the day when I am dead tired. But through all of this the Lord has shown me something. Like a normal meal, I can’t just live off of what I ate during my Sunday morning service. The bible is supposed to be daily bread, not weekly loaves, so that means every day I have to be intentional about spending time with Jesus. When we read the word of God it is the breath of life being breathed into us each time. When I put it that way, it sounds ridiculous to try and hold my breath from Sunday to Sunday since it is impossible, but that’s what I try to do when I don’t spend time with God everyday. If I am not taking a deep breath of the word of God every single day, then I am bound to struggle.
I want it to be known that God is not a priority in my life that has to be checked off of a list. He is at the center of everything and within everything, and if I do not have him as my center then the works that I am doing in his name are relatively meaningless to the kingdom. Being on the race means having a flexible attitude and adjusting to a new environment each month. This applies to my approach to how I spend time alone with God in Myanmar. I need to keep him at my core and make sacrifices daily so that I can meet with him. Sometimes I need to wake up early and sacrifice sleep. Sometimes I need to pray while I’m cooking, doing laundry, or showering. Sometimes I intentionally worship him with my body while I workout, or even sacrifice a night of fellowship during dinner so that I can eat with Jesus.
Mission work without Christ will eventually fade. We can come into a place and build a structure or teach someone English, but these things by themselves will eventually fade. However, as Christians, we have the opportunity to leave behind something that never fades- Christ. Developing a relationship with Christ and keeping him at the center of my life is definitely a discipline, but this is the most important relationship I will ever have. Fostering my relationship with him daily, keeping him at the center of my life, and allowing God to use me will have a bigger impact on the kingdom that will never fade.
