My team has settled in at a couple of different hostels in Kata Beach, Thailand, near Phuket. It’s a pretty awesome set up. We have less than a 10 minute walk to the beach, and our lodging is costing us between 4 and 5 dollars per night. Yesterday, our team spent a good portion of the afternoon on the beach swimming and playing what we like to call “feather foot.” It’s basically the Cambodian version of hacky sack, but the “ball” is a spring with a feather attached to the top. I’ve included a picture below. We also explored a couple of different restaurants and started to get a feel for the area, wondering what God might have for us here.
There are a lot of days on the race that feel a little awkward. We don’t have ministry contacts in each place that we visit, so we don’t have anyone telling us what to do when we get to new city. We’ll spend time, when we arrive in a new place, praying and hoping God leads us to people he wants us to connect with, but sometimes those connections don’t come instantaneously. So we find ourselves on the beach, swimming and playing feather foot, soaking in the sun, and wondering, “are we really doing what we’re supposed to be doing?”
It’s easy to start feeling anxious or guilty about the fun we’re having. “We didn’t come here for vacation.” “Am I too focused on getting the good instagram photo?” It’s a tension we have to walk on a daily basis, since we’re living an unscripted life. There have been times on our journey, already, when it’s felt clear that God had something specific for us to do. But what do we do on days when it’s not all that clear, or when we don’t feel God nudging us in a certain direction?
I don’t always know the answer to that question, but I do know one thing. It’s so easy to completely miss God in our everyday lives. There are for sure moments when God wants to move us into the path of someone he wants to love, but there are just as many moments, if not more, when God wants to draw our eyes toward a sunset, or our hearts toward community, or our bodies toward rest. He wants us to be aware of everything about him that’s good, so that we have real life things to share with others.
What is it that we have to give people if we can’t identify the work of God in everyday, real life moments? This unscripted life is one that we’re supposed to be able to live out in our everyday lives back home, and the connection that I’ve been able to make so far between this unscripted life, and any successful ministry I’ve done back home, has been the willingness to be interrupted in everyday life. So far, some of the best connections that we’ve made have come because people have been able to see that our group enjoys each other in a way that isn’t common, or at times when we’ve gone on an excursion to see something beautiful, or when we’ve sat at a restaurant for a meal. It’s happened in the everyday moments when we weren’t really expecting it, and when we’ve been willing to be hospitable with our time and relationships when interrupted by others.
I fully believe that in the days when our purpose isn’t all that clear, the best thing our group can do is focus on our awareness of God in the everyday, simple moments. Sometimes the best thing we can do for God’s mission as Christ-followers is simply to enjoy God and the freedom he’s given us to live joyful lives. When we develop this kind of awareness of God’s presence in our lives, and his desire for us to thrive as humans, we’ll want to do what pleases him whether we’re on a beach, in a village, riding a bus, or sitting in our beds in a hostel.
There is a western idea that has burrowed its way into my heart, over time, and needs to be rejected regularly. It’s the idea that productivity determines my worth or that accomplishing more gives me value. I think that’s why God so regularly calls me into silence and stillness. Less words. Less action. Less doing. Just be with me. There’s not a place in the world where God isn’t present. But it’s easy to lack awareness of his presence where we are. We’re always looking for the supernatural, an audible voice, or a coincidence so stunning that it couldn’t possibly be coincidence. But what if we shared our whole day with the Lord as we’re living it? What if we walked through our lives believing that God was experiencing it with us? That every moment, every interaction, everything our eyes take in is full of God’s presence, and that his kingdom is always breaking in or just about to break in.
When my actions flow out of a desire to be busy, productive, and accomplished, my attempts at sharing the good news can become more about me than our loving God or whoever I might be trying to share his love with. Was I successful? Did I get through? Am I good at this? But if my actions flow out of the overflow of time spent with the Lord, out of the love that comes from knowing a loving God, it will be real love that I’m communicating to others. It will be more than a philosophy to be believed. Instead, it will be a reality that we’re all invited into.
There is no moment of our day that is hidden from God. There aren’t moments that we set aside for God or that we invite God into. We’re either aware of God’s presence and work around us or we aren’t. God is already there, working, creating, loving, redeeming, and restoring. We can appreciate and participate in this reality when we choose to, but God is the one who’s doing the accomplishing. I want to develop an every day, all of the day, awareness that God is near and working for the good of his creation. And I hope that this is a reality that I can live out every day of my life. But it’s a hard reality to absorb when the greatest awareness I have is of myself. May we all have eyes to see the beauty of the one true God in every moment of every day.
