Slow Down

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” Luke 10:30-34 (ESV) 



When people ask me if I like traveling, I typically respond, “I like being other places, but I don’t particularly like traveling.”

Usually when I am going some place, my goal is typically on my destination, not my journey.  I tend to dislike disruptions and once I hop on a bicycle or jump in a car, it is really hard for me to stop the vehicle and get out.

Yet life is so much about the journey and not so much about the destination.  If God’s goal for us was only to get to heaven, then He would likely just take us from this world as soon as we believe in Jesus.

But He doesn’t do that.  Because our planetary purpose is about the journey.  Things we often see as interruptions are ministry opportunities that God puts in our lives.  Our choice is whether we want to be like the religious leaders who walked right by the man who had been robbed on the way to Jericho, or like the Samaritan man, whose name has become synonymous for one who helps out those he encounters.

Too often, I live like the former.  One incident is deeply embedded in my brain.

Many years ago, I was assisting a co-worker with his work in Twenty-nine Palms, California.  We had begun the day early, while it was still dark, and had put in a long day.  I was on my way home to Bakersfield and I pulled into a McDonald’s in Barstow for dinner.  I normally don’t like to eat at McDonalds but I just wanted have something fast so that I could be on my way home.

As I got in line, I noticed a homeless man and I felt the Spirit stirring me to buy him a meal.  But, like the religious leaders in the story above, I chose to ignore such promptings, justifying my actions by the fact that I had already put in a long day and I wasn’t even done yet.

When I sat down with my food, I noticed that someone else had bought some food for the homeless man and was giving it to him.  And the Spirit seemed to speak to me, “you ignored me, and someone else is going to get the blessing.”

You think I would have learned from that, but still I have a tendency to rush by ministry opportunities that God puts in front of me on my way to ministries of MY own design and under MY control.

Lord, help me to “stop and smell the roses” as I walk along life’s path.  Help me to be more like the Samaritan who sees the ministry opportunities that You have placed right in front of us, that I have a propensity to totally NOT see.  And by Your grace through Christ Jesus, forgive me for all the times when I refused to see what you wanted me to see in order that I might be a channel of your love in the lives of those around me.  Forgive me my pride in thinking that somehow the ministries that I have designed are more important than the ones You have laid out before me.

You don’t know which way the wind blows

The other night I had a dream.  I usually have dreams at night, often quite vivid ones, but I seldom remember them.  But this one I did, at least the general gist of it.

I was going to do that crazy thing people have tried in recent years—using helium filled balloons to take myself on a flight.  But unlike some—who have done things like attach them to a lawn chair—I just made two large bunches and then looped them under each armpit to lift me off the ground.

The next bit was a bit weird as well.  Rather than take off into open space, I used the balloons to assist me in a form of modified rock climbing—I sort of crawled up the face of some very tall cliff using the balloons to help me up.  But then I came up on a problem.

When I got to the top I realized I had not checked to weather report, so I did not know what either the low altitude or high altitude wind directions were.  As a consequence, when I got to the top I did not want to let go of the cliff because I had no idea where I would end up when I got caught up in the wind.

I woke up at that point and the dream stayed with me.  It seemed to have real implications for my life.

Sometimes we don’t want to make a particular decision because we’re not sure what the consequences of a decision will be.  It may be that we feel God wants us to make a decision, but it feels risky because we will be giving up a lot personal control in our lives and end up having to trust God more.  (Granted, we are not omniscient and we never really know where any of our decisions will end up taking us.)

One of our key values at MB Mission is “Risk-taking Obedience”.  It seemed like we were holding to that value quite strongly a few years ago when we quit our jobs in Fresno and joined MB Mission.  “Is that really God calling us?” we asked ourselves.  And we certainly did not know either where we thought that decision might take us or where it actually would take us!

As we look back over our first term in Thailand we can see positive things like:

• God has been faithful to provide for us financially as we have followed in obedience to the call we felt we heard.
• We’ve been able to touch the lives of a lot of people with the love of Jesus who would not otherwise have had an opportunity to experience it.

But the first term has with been filled with difficulties as well

• The Thai language is really hard to learn!
• We’ve been on three teams in three locations in our first term, and have arrived at neither where our first plan was to go nor where our second plan was to go.

And now as we look to the future and what our next term will look like we see a couple of possible options, both of which have us saying to ourselves: “I’m not sure I’m up to that”,

And that’s where another core value of MB Mission comes in: Dependency on Jesus.  As we look to the future and all that might be required of us we need to decide whether we will approach it with dread or rather approach it with excitement—because it is an opportunity for the power of God to shine through our weakness.  By the grace of God we will do the latter.

²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
²⁶ If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 12:24-26 (ESV)

So, God, help us to let go of the cliff and let our balloons get caught up in the wind of your spirit.  We choose to let You pick the direction by breath of Your Spirit.

In Season

June is the saddest month of the year here in Central Thailand.  That’s because June marks the end of mango season.

I don’t have many favorites in my life.
I have no favorite color
no favorite song
no favorite food
no favorite movie
no favorite sport
etc.

But I DO have a favorite person (my wife)
AND a favorite fruit (mango).  My wife’s favorite fruit is mango as well.

We sometimes joke that we moved to Thailand because of the mangos.




But the good news is that June is the beginning of longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour. ลำไย) season

Longans are usually sold in bunches like this

Insides and seed of longan

What's left after eating

We never had eaten longan before we came to Thailand, but it is probably now the second favorite fruit for both of us.  But soon even it’s season will be over.

In the US we would sometimes be almost unaware of the cyclical nature of fruit harvest because in the grocery store you can get just about anything at any time of year due to the ability to transport fruit over great distances and store the harvested fruit while maintaining a reasonable quality.

But here in Thailand where we tend to buy our fruit in open markets, we tend to be more aware of the seasons of harvest.  And we adapt our fruit eating habits to whatever is in season.  (Though certain fruits are available all year long: banana, pineapple, papaya and watermelon.)

There is a seasonal nature to our work here in Thailand as well-even tough we are not involved in Agricultural production.  Paul alludes to the cyclical nature of our kind of work in 1 Corinthians 3:6 (ESV):

   I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

We spend a lot of time planting and watering, so to speak, and aren’t always sure what the harvest will look like or if we will even be around for it.  Sometimes we get to harvest what others have planted.

Sometimes we think there is a crop coming along fine but then a storm comes up and beats the crop down.  I think of one person in our community who indicated a desire to follow Christ back in December.  But then some temptations came up and he succumbed to the temptation.  Now he seems too ashamed to be around us any more.

But while it is our responsibility to be faithful laborers. it is God who brings about the growth.  We don’t control that aspect of it.

So on one day my “sowing” might be holding a child whose parents are in prison and is pretty much neglected by his relatives.  It might be years before he can understand more fully the message of God’s love—what it means for God to send His Son and for His Son to take upon himself the sins of the whole world.

On another day I might be watering-teaching a young believer about the Bible and what certain scriptures mean to his life.

On perhaps another day we might enjoy a bit of harvest—praying with someone who is responding to the message of God’s love.

We plant.  We water.  We pray for God to make the crop grow.  And we bring in the harvest.
Like eating the seasonal fruit, we learn to enjoy each “fruit” in its season:

We enjoy planting in planting season
We enjoy watering in watering season
and we enjoy reaping in harvest season
And there’s always room for more laborers in the field.

 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:38 (NIV)