Life without safety nets

In the states, we're surrounded by safety nets, both visible and invisible.  Traffic cops patrol for the streets watching for speeding, rolling stops, and ignored traffic lights.  Any place with public access has layers upon layers of safety, in the literal sense of handrails and ramps, and the figurative sense of threatened lawsuits.  If you do get hurt, a quick call to 911 will get you police, EMTs, and firefighters in fairly short order.  Imagine if all that disappeared.

Here, there are no handrails.  There are no guardrails on the mountain roads, and no traffic lights on the corners.  Traffic laws are more guidelines than actual rules, and if you're in an accident, you can call for help but who knows when (if!) it will get there, or what quality of medical attention you'll receive. Traffic does not grant ambulances the right of way, either.  If you run into trouble, the police may help you, or they may not.

The other night I was driving home on my scooter.  The weather had been iffy all day, and about halfway across town (normally a 30-minute drive) the heavens opened.  There are no street lights.  The stars here are amazing because there is no light pollution to get in their way, but it also makes for very dark drives once the sun goes down.  So.  The skies unleash their fury, and I am soaked through almost instantly.  Visibility decreases to about four feet, and I can't see the road because my headlight is reflecting off the sheeting rain.  The road I take curves around the side of a hill, with a deep gutter on once side and a sheer drop of anything from 3 to 30 feet on the other, and I can't really see far enough to tell where I am in the road.  I slow to about 3 mi/hr, just enough to keep the scooter upright, and every once in a while the jittering of my headlamp reflects off the side of the hill, letting me know I haven't strayed too far one way or the other.  My glasses are rain-spattered and fogging from my breath, and when I try to wipe them clean, they simply smear.  It is with intense relief that I greet the lights and noise of the intersection that marks the beginning of a safer road.  Finally, as I turn up the final path to my home, the rain stops and the skies clear.

As I squelched up the stairs in my water-filled Converse, streaming water from head to toe and wondering if this was what hypothermia felt like, I had to marvel at my experience.  It took me over an hour to travel the five miles across town.  I was sopping wet, and fairly certain I'd never been so scared in my entire life.  And yet, that little trip across town was a reminder for me that even in this midst of this place so completely devoid of safety nets, I can still count on the ultimate safety net:  God is the one who brought me here, and he is able to protect me.  Driving down that road in the dry daytime I still marvel that I survived.  There is no reason I should have.  I just kept moving forward, trusting that the road would still be under my tires, and trusting that the God of the universe was able to keep me on a road I couldn't see.

Now, as I continue to move forward, I hold to that same faith.  I can't see very far down this road God has put me on.  I don't know what my life will look like in two, five, or ten years.  For that matter, I don't even know what my life will look like six months from now!  But I trust that the same God who kept that road under my tires one very wet March night will continue to be faithful and fulfill his purpose for me.

It's not about me

I just hit the one-month mark for living overseas, which seems at times both amazingly surreal and completely normal--often at the same time.  There is something about air travel that is a little disconcerting.  If one were to take a train or a boat (or some combination thereof) from, let's say, the middle of the USA to the middle of Africa, there would be a very real feel to the distance.  You would watch as the scenery changed outside your window from grasslands to hills to mountains to swamps, then endless days of unchanging ocean before again the change from jungle to plains to desert, etc.  You would, in a very real sense, have felt the physical sensation of traveling that entire distance.  Not so with airplanes.  You board a plane in Podunkville, USA, sit in a room for a while, then wander around a warehouse-like terminal (occasionally with shops selling things no normal person wants or needs) before sitting in another room for a while, and repeating the experience.  The only things that change are the languages spoken around you, and the people who push past you, intent on getting to the next stop.  You step into a box in New York, and you step out of the same box into Germany or Japan or Australia.  You wake up in your own bed in the morning, and by that evening (sometimes at the end of a 35-hour day), you climb into a new bed on the other side of the world.  All with no physical sense of the distance you've traveled. It's no wonder your body takes as much as two weeks to recover!

The point of all that was that sometimes I don't feel the distance between here and home at all, and others it's like being torn in two.  It's (to use a Star Trek metaphor) as if I stepped onto a transporter pad and was zapped (slowly and painfully, as anyone who's flown coach internationally can attest to) onto another planet that nonetheless looks and feels a good deal like earth. (Though not, for once, looking like Paramount Studio 32--or southern California!)  Home is just a phone call away, but at the same time insurmountably out of reach.  The world around me is totally alien, and yet totally familiar.  I go to the store and buy bread and pasta and Fanta (avoid Marinda, it's nowhere near as good!), and on the way home have to stop for monkeys running across the road or small children demanding donations for a god I've never heard of.  Completely different, yet same-old, same-old.  It is overwhelming, and completely normal.  And sometimes it sends me running home where I can shut the door and stick my fingers in my ears and pretend I'm somewhere else.

What's the answer?  How do I go on when life is turned on its head and I feel like I'm strolling through a Dali print? The answer:  It's not about me.  In the midst of all this craziness, it's not about me.  Isaiah 40 is famous for its last two verses (you might know them): "Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.  But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint."  Lovely verses.  But back up to the beginning of the chapter.  I don't think I'd ever read it before.  "Comfort, comfort my people," says the Lord in verse one.  It's closely followed by the more famous line  "Prepare a way in the wilderness" (quoted in 3 of the gospels), but look down at verse six onward:

A voice said, "Shout!"
I asked, "What should I shout?"
"Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field.
The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the LORD.
And so it is with people.

(People are like grass...here today, gone tomorrow, as easily as God breathing on us...We're like dandelion fluff--transient, and quick to die.)

The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever."

(The contrast, then, is between us--grass, and God--our total opposite.  He merely has to open his mouth, and it lasts forever.)

O Zion, messenger of good news,
shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.
Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
"Your God is coming!"

(To my mind, considering the previous section, this could be a pretty scary thing.  You, human, are mere grass to wither at a breath from an eternal God.  And he's on his way!  But notice that this is good news, and Zion is told to not be afraid.)

Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power.
He will rule with a powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.

(Adonai YHWH...Lord and Master of all, coming in power.  This and the previous still put me in mind of somewhat fearful anticipation.  The Almighty God is coming in power!  But look at the next verses:)

He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

(Wait, what?  In the midst of all this BEHOLD, PUNY MORTAL we suddenly get an image of God as a shepherd, tenderly holding the lambs and looking after the flock.  It's a reminder that God, despite his infinite power, tenderly loves us and cares for us.  The next verses heighten the contrast.)

Who else has held the oceans in his hand? (A rhetorical question, I'm pretty sure...)
Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? (Despite whether we're talking earth's atmosphere or the entirety of the universe, it's still a remarkable accomplishment.  Check out this picture if you'd like to be amazed...)
Who else knows the weight of the earth
or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD?
Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?

(More rhetorical questions, the point being, no one is like our God...)

Has the LORD ever needed anyone's advice?
Does he need instruction about what is good?
Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?

(God is, by his very nature, good, right, and just.  In a world gone so horribly wrong, this is comforting.  As is this:)

No, for all the nations of the world
are but a drop in the bucket.
They are nothing more than dust on the scales.
He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.
All the wood in Lebanon's forests
and all Lebanon's animals would not be enough
to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.
The nations of the world are worth nothing to him.
In his eyes they count for less than nothing--mere emptiness and froth.

(There is an awful lot of rotten stuff going on in our world at present--human rights injustices happen in pretty much every nation of the world [USA included!] on a daily basis.  Yet in the midst of all that, God is still God, and he is coming in power--and what a wonderful day that will be!)

To whom can you compare God?
What image can you find to resemble him?
Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,
overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
Or if people are too poor for that,
they might at least choose wood that won't decay
and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won't fall down!
Haven't you heard? Don't you understand?
Are you deaf to the words of God--the words he gave before the world began?
Are you so ignorant?

(Thank you, Isaiah, for your snark.  It makes me happy.)

God sits above the circle of the earth.
The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.
He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing.
They hardly get started, barely taking root,
when he blows on them and they wither.
The wind carries them off like chaff.
"To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One.
Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.

(This, especially after looking at that picture [linked above], is amazing.  There are more stars in this universe than I can begin to comprehend, yet God knows each one and calls them each by name! Mind blown.)

O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
Have you never heard? Have you never understood?

(After reading the rest of the chapter, this section is especially poignant.  I imagine Isaiah, much as Paul in his letters, nearly heartbroken in compassion.  Oh, Israel, don't you see?  God--the God of this enormous universe that has only to blow on people to wither them like grass--cares about you!)

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

(God is big enough for your problems--no matter what they are!  And now, with all that buildup, these verses become so much more powerful:)

He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

(NLT, from blueletterbible.org.  Annotations all mine.)

Wow.  I read that a few nights ago, and just stopped, and stared, and was amazed.  "Comfort, comfort," God says.  God is unfathomably big and unfathomably powerful.  He holds the nations of the world in his hands and can wither or prosper them with a breath.  His fingers measure off galaxies (galaxies! We could never hope to cross our own Milky Way!) yet he cares for us, leading us like the wayward sheep we are and gathering the lambs to his heart.  What an amazing God!

This, then, is how I go on in the craziness that has suddenly become my life.  It's not about me.  I'm scarcely a blade of grass in the grand scheme of things.  But I am a part of the grand scheme, and I will offer my life, such as it is, to this amazing, wonderful God who has never needed me, but wants me--and loves me, more deeply than anyone on earth is even capable of.  I say sincerely, Thank God!

Anticipation

Anticipation is a funny thing.  You wait, and wait, and wait, then hope, and hope, and hope, then wait and hope some more until suddenly whatever you were waiting and hoping for is at your door and suddenly you realize you should have been preparing in the midst of all that waiting and hoping!  And yet, there are some things in life that are almost impossible to prepare for.  How do you prepare to leave your life and your family and the only things you've ever known to fly thousands of miles around to the opposite side of the world?

I don't know!  I'm doing it though, and the only solution I've come up with is prayer, which is very much a work-in-progress with me.  We've talked about prayer a great deal at church lately, and it's one of those things that even the pastor will say, "I don't know."  How can my request move the hand of a sovereign God?  I don't know.  But I've seen it happen; I know that it can.  I think there is a balance between rubbing the magic lamp and getting your wishes granted (sort of a genie-God) and a fatalism that says, "God's will is perfect; I wouldn't want to get in the way."

An excerpt from S.D. Gordon was included in a devotional book I'm working through.  It says this:

"This leads to a very old question: does prayer influence God? No question has been discussed more, or more earnestly.  Skeptical men of fine scientific training have with great positiveness said 'no,' and Christian men of scholarly training and strong faith have with equal positiveness said 'yes.' Not right in all their statements, nor right in all their beliefs, nor right in all their processes of thinking, but right in their ultimate conclusions as represented by these short words, 'no,' and 'yes.' Prayer does not influence God.  Prayer surely does influence God.  It does not influence his purpose.  It does influence his action.  Everything that ever has been prayed for, of course I mean every right thing, God has already purposed to do.  But He does nothing without our consent.  He has been hindered in His purposes by our lack of willingness.  When we learn His purposes and make them our prayers we are giving Him the opportunity to act."

While I would hesitate to go so far as to say that my stubbornness and pride would prevent God from acting, I also think it is true that "we have not because we ask not."  The devotional also includes this quote from Richard Halverson:  "By prayer man consents to the rule of God in his life.  By prayer man seeks God's will and yields to it.  By prayer man asks God for that which he knows he needs and can receive only from God...Prayer is that contact man has with the Heavenly Father to satisfy the deepest needs of his life."

My task, then, as I jump into this grand adventure God has given me (I did ask for one; I shouldn't balk when I get what I ask for!) is to seek the will of God in my life, and trust that he will answer my prayers.  May be not always when or how I want, but always to his glory.  And so even though I'm sad to leave my family and my friends, I leave secure in the knowledge that the Lord God will be with me wherever I go.  His will is perfect, and as Jeremiah said, God knows the plans he has for me, to prosper and not to harm me--plans to give me hope, and a future.  What more could I ask for?

Keep on truckin'...or trekkin', as the case may be.

So. With a few changes, I'm back.  I'm currently at 75% of my goal, which makes the whole endeavor suddenly seem very real, and I'm beginning to seesaw between thinking I'll never leave, and thinking I don't have enough time to get everything taken care of that I need to before I leave!  All in all, it's an okay place to be.

I don't have anything profound to share today; this summer has been one long marathon that is only now approaching an end (school starts in a week...eep!).  I just wanted to pass on the fact that due to security concerns overseas, the organization I work with and my name should not appear together online (not a concern for you non-social media users, but just wanted to put it out there).  Thanks for your help!

This also means I can't link you directly to the website, so if you need help or have questions, just post a comment with your email address and the word "Help!" and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

What does the Lord require of you?

I'm currently reading a book called When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...Or Yourself.  It's been challenging.  For many people, Christianity is going to church on Sunday and living life as if we've taken some sort of Hippocratic Oath to do no harm.  And there's nothing wrong with that, in and of itself.  But it is enough?  In the chapter I'm currently reading, the authors visit Isaiah and dig into the reasons for Israel's captivity.  Why was Israel sent into captivity?  The easy answer, and the one I came up with first, was idolatry.  But there's more. "Here," the authors note, "Israel appears to be characterized by personal piety and the outward expressions of formal religion." These outward signs did not reflect any inward heart for God.  Chapter 58 talks about "proper fasting":

"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--"[the ESV says it a little more strongly: "and bring the homeless poor into your house"] "when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.  If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."

The authors say, "God was furious over Israel's failure to care for the poor and the oppressed.  He wanted His people to 'loose the chains of injustice,' and not just go to church on Sunday.  He wanted His people to 'clothe the naked,' and not just attend midweek prayer meeting.  He wanted His people to 'spend themselves on behalf of the hungry,' and not just sing praise music.  Personal piety and formal worship are essential to the Christian life, but they must lead to lives that 'act justly and love mercy' (Micah 6:8)"

Israel was meant to be a preview of the coming Messiah, but failed frequently and spectacularly.  As the Christian church, we "are more than just a sneak preview of King Jesus.  The church is the body, bride, and very fullness of Jesus Christ[...] When people look at the church, they should see the very embodiment of Jesus!  When people look at the church, they should see the One who declared--in word and in deed to the leper, the lame, and the poor--that His kingdom is bringing healing to every speck of the universe."

Is that convicting, or what?  I'm pretty sure that I've got more in common with Old Testament Israel than I'd care to admit or contemplate.  Besides which, who am I, what gifts do I have, that God could use me?  Joyce Meyer says, "It frequently happens that believers know something down deep in their hearts...but their minds fight against it.  They may consider themselves unworthy.  They may ask, 'Who am I that You would use me to change lives?' They waste a lot of energy by telling God why they can't do what He wants them to do.  God already knows everything that is wrong with us or ever will be wrong with us, and He is willing to work through us anyway.  God requires availability not ability."  Our part in this is to decide to believe.  And then do what he asks.  Which is why, doubts and fears and all, I'm going.

Revisiting

I'm not a huge advocate of letting one's Bible fall open at random when searching for guidance, but occasionally it works, presenting you with exactly the thing you need, when you need it.  I stumbled across Colossians this past week, and read it with new eyes.  It was an amazing and exhilarating experience.  It's a short book, only 4 chapters long, but it packs a punch.  Check out 3:12-17 in particular.

On the fund-raising end:  just passed the 40% mark.  Thanks to all, and please keep praying!

A few thoughts on missions

I've been interested in missions ever since I was a child.  The church I grew up in was excited about missions, and every November our missionaries would come show slideshows of villages in Papua New Guinea or wherever they happened to be, and talk about the amazing things God was doing around the world.  This would culminate in the Missions Banquet, a sort of "Hurrah!" and a way to get pumped about another year of giving.  It was fabulous.  I've never found anything else quite like it.

Over the years, my beliefs about God, the church, and our place in the world as Christians has changed and evolved and (I'd like think, at least) matured to reach the point I'm at now.  And while this process is by no means finished, I have picked up a few insights along the way.  First, God has called everyone to missions.  Granted, he has not called all of us to go live in grass huts in the deepest jungles (Thank goodness for that--I've got a thing about really big bugs...), but we are all called to be missionaries in some fashion.  For some of us, it's the mission field of the family, or the workplace, or the summer camp, or quite possibly all of the above.  For others it's the teaching and equipping of pastors and church leaders and conference speakers.  And some of us are called to third-world countries on the opposite side of the planet.  Some are called to go; others are called to stay behind--but they are just as important as those who go, because they are the ones who get to send.  Because the people who go could never actually get going without a committed team of senders, who are just as much a part of the mission work.  (And on that note, I'm at 33% of my support--thank you to my loyal senders!)

The second thing I've come to believe is that God does not actually need me.  He called me, but I could have said no.  I would have missed out on a lot, but I had a choice in the matter.  In the story of Esther, Mordecai pleads with Esther to intercede for the Jews.  He says, "For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place" (Esther 4:14).   God put Esther in a place of having to choose, but if she'd declined, He would have found some other way--and Esther would not have just lost out on some blessings, but she would have lost her very life.  So what does that mean?  God doesn't need me, but he called me, and I am humbled and honored at the chance to join this incredible work!  What has God called you to do?