So, here I am, sitting in the sweltering heat and humidity of Cambodia. It’s month ten. The end of the Race is in sight. Some of us are deciding what to do when we get back. And for others, God is lining all that up for us. We all see the light at the end of the tunnel, and are hoping it’s not actually a train. and honestly, I’m ready for it. I’m ready to go home. I’m tired.
Not just physically, although, yes I am getting there, too. Emotionally, the Race can be a roller coaster. Doing great one day, and the next, something gets you, and you’re emotionally drained. I am tired of over seas life.
I’m tired of people looking at me walking down the street. I’m tired of people laughing as we go past. I’m tired of people thinking I have everything in the world. I’m tired of people trying to rip me off. Because I am American, so I MUST be rich. I’m tired of kids running after me like I’m a movie star. If I never here someone call me azungu, I will be ok with that. I tired of being a human jungle gym. I’m tired of overly aggressive tuk-tuk drivers. I’m tired of mini buses. I’m tired of terrible roads. I’m tired of countries where there is no such thing as traffic law. I’m tired of playing frogger. I’m tired of seeing the things in this world that no one should need to see or go through. I’m tired of seeing mansions next to tin shacks. I’m tired of seeing street kids with severe cuts on their hands and feet. I. Tired of people thinking I am in my 30’s, when I am actually 24 .
But you know what? To see the joy on a kids face when he scores a goal. To see a chief of a community that belongs to no country come out and invite us in. To see a man in his upper 60s free from arthritisand jump around the room. To show a pastor and his family that they aren’t alone, and don’t need to do everything by themselves. To see the gratitude and happiness that can be brought by just fixing the massive holes in a soccer net. To be an example of a Godly man to four young boys living in a compound with one man. To befriend a man who gets drunk every night. To see Gods plan when ours fails and we are left stranded between borders. To see the appreciation on the faces of a community of new pastors for what we taught them. To preach a sermon on my testimony, the power of forgiveness, and Christs undying love and sacrifice, and later learning a woman was going to kill her child and herself until she went to church that day. To see an old man walk miles to tell us goodbye on our last day, because we meant THAT much to him.
It is worth it. Being tired, frustrated at being profiled, emotionally drained at least once a week…. It doesn’t matter. Because if it means one person comes to know the Lord, and what he did for us, then it was worth it. Every bad or frustrating experience is worth one life, one new child of God. Infinity to one is a good ratio.
HIS work is worth it.
Nehemiah 6:2-3
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying “Come, let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
Nehemiah was hanging doors in the gates (verse 1). A mundane task. Simple. Anyone could have done it. But Nehemiah knew one thing. That he as doing “a great work” that was appointed to him by God. And he took comfort in this and refused to be distracted. All racers, as we near the end, and it seems like we’ve done it a million times, our tasks have been given to us by God, and so they are great. And you at home, when you complain about your job, same thing. When God gives us a job, it is a great work.
That’s why it’s worth it. Because God appointed it. I’m tired, bet the race is 11 months. Not ten, or nine. Eleven. So everything that is yet to come, is work appointed by God. That’s why it’s worth it.
