August 31, 2010
Malaybalay, Philippines
The competition to win the Donald Miller conference is almost over. They are announcing a winner, maybe even tomorrow. I doubt that I will win. I thought I had time because of a little thing called a 12 hour time difference but I think the computer outsmarted me. Dang! Regardless if I win, his book still proves a great point about story. Any good story has a thing he calls inciting incidents. Things to overcome. Barriers. Hurdles. Every good story has them. It makes the ending greater.
I actually saw this played out in quite a grandiose way on Saturday. We had just come back from the jail. We were late for the scheduled dinner time so the houseparents had ours waiting for us while the kids watched a movie. It was Cinderella. The very end of it. It has been a long time since I have seen that movie. But to see it through the eyes of the kids at the children’s home was something that I will never forget. The two mice are trying to get Cinderella out of her room to try on the slipper. It is a race against time and the cat. With each near miss of being eaten by the cat, the kids screamed with anticipation. When the mice friends tried to attack the cat, the kids laughed with delight. And when she finally got out and walked down the steps, they cheered. All 20 of them cheered. I was blown away. But it is a good story. Who doesn’t like a good Cinderella story?
But here is the deal, when you are in the midst of the struggles it is hard. When you are the one locked in your room, waiting for your prince to find you, there seems to be no way out. This trip back to the Philippines has been great, but it has been hard. Meetings haven’t fallen into place like I would want them to. Fitting into another culture isn’t as easy as I would like to think. Thinking about what it would take to live here long term is a little scary. And then there is Renato. It is hard. There is not one thing here that is in my control. If I were honest, that is hard for me. I don’t know where the land will come from. I don’t know where the money will come from to build on the land. I don’t know if the boys that I love so dearly will be able to actually be in the home. I don’t know how to communicate without a translator. I don’t know what people are saying to me or about me. I don’t know who will work at the home to help it run and to build into the lives of the boys. There are more things that I don’t know than I do know. And sometimes that is uncomfortable.
I am sitting in an internet café. The internet isn’t actually working right now, but that is beside the point. The song that is playing in the background is The Climb by Miley Cyrus. And as I ponder what it will take to have this home up and running, I wonder what Miley Cyrus knows about the Climb. Really, what does she know about struggle and hurdles? I don’t know her life so I can’t judge. But I still wonder. I know the song was written for the movie, the Last Song. Where she had to “Climb” through the struggles of her dad’s death. I watched that movie on the plane. And made a spectacle of myself with my tears. I couldn’t stop crying. And it wasn’t because of her award winning performance. It was because with that story line, the weight of the trip to the Philippines hit me.
I was in a window seat, which on a 13 hour flight is generally a good thing if you can sleep. But I couldn’t so I watched this movie. And the hours and miles pass by. There was no turning back. And even today, as I sit and listen to Miley, there is a feeling that I can’t really wrap my brain around. Yes, it is hard. But it doesn’t change who God is or what He is doing. It just makes the story greater, and His glory shine brighter.
Here is what I mean. Renato showed up at Bible study that same night he said those things to us. I think I have a better picture of the father in the story about the prodigal son. In reading it, I certainly was fine with the celebration the Father had, but thought a good lecture better come right after the fattened calf had cooled. But that night when Renato showed up, I only wanted to hug him. The next day, he came to the children’s home for the feedings we do for the community. He brought 2 of his friends with him. We went to go play soccer but he had one of the leaders tell me he wanted to talk to me. I listened as he explained his side of the story. Apparently there were some things lost in translation. He didn’t understand why I was crying because he thought I didn’t want to see him again. I explained my side. The whole time he was holding my hand.
It got even better when he told me that he wasn’t sure of the exact date he accepted Christ the first time I was here, so he did it again the night before. Along with the two friends he brought with him that day. He came to church with us the next day. I sat beside him with the same grin I had on my face the day he came to pick me up from the airport.
This is going to be hard. My heart may get stomped on beyond recognition but I’m still called to love like God does. And that is a great love. And a rewarding love. Giving life is hard. Pouring out my soul is exhausting. Trusting when I don’t know what is going on or how this is going to look is challenging. But it makes the story greater, and it gives glory to the Father. Part of Miley’s song tells me to Keep the Faith. Maybe she does know what she is talking about after all.
To top it off, on the way to take Renato home tonight, the song he sang? The Climb by Miley Cyrus … in perfect English.
