One of my favorite things about all of the missionary journeys I've been on is when God shows up outside of "outreach." When God puts opportunities to share His love on our path in the mundane moments, not just when we go out with that as our intention.
My time in Thailand with the Harvest School team was filled with those moments. One of those times was when my friend Shay and I were sitting in the lobby of our hostel just hanging out and using the wifi. We weren't even thinking, "Let's go love on people!" We were just thinking let's go chill out and talk to friends back home on Facebook. But God is in every moment. Even the silly and least "spiritual" moments, we have a river of life flowing out of us, and it can't be held back. Holy Spirit lives in us and He wants us to let Him flow out as He continually pours into us. So we were just sitting and talking and a nice English guy was sitting by us at the table. We started talking with him as well, and somehow a discussion about the difference between an American biscuit and a British biscuit turned into us talking about God for over three hours. It was so natural, Shay and I weren't even the ones bringing God up in the conversation. We somehow started talking about our time at Harvest School, discussing water shortages, differences in medical care, and even latrines. After a while of talking about Harvest School it lead to him asking us if we are "properly religious" which lead to him asking us questions about God and our beliefs for literally three hours. And he wasn't drilling us or arguing, he was simply curious and intrigued and hungry. He would ask us the hard questions that come up whenever someone thinks about a good God in the midst of suffering, and Holy Spirit guided Shay and I and spoke through us when we felt like we didn't have answers ourselves. It was just so cool the way God took an insignificant conversation about what different cultures call cookies and bread rolls and turned it into a loving pursuit of His son. It seemed like just a conversation, but it was the type of conversation God can use as a catalyst for the process of his adoption. God really is in the midst of every conversation and every moment.
Another time was when our team spent the day going to ride on elephants, the typical Thailand tourist experience. Things like this may seem like "a break from ministry" (that sounds ridiculous to even say, but you know what I mean) or a day just for fun with no meaning or significance. But God is with us everywhere we go- so our lives are ministry! We had an amazing day doing fun touristy things. Then on the bus ride home, we heard a sweet member of the team, Debby, in the back row of the van sharing the gospel with the man next to her. Naturally all the members of the team that heard the conversation started interceding and blessing the conversation in their minds haha! And the team members who heard about it later rejoiced in the fact that God crashes in whether we're in the slums or just seeing the sights.
Another example is my whole trip to Laos! I didn't go there with any missions plans, I simply had to go for my visa. But God had more than just a visit to the embassy in mind for my time there. Like I wrote about in my last post, my wanderings lead to a Buddhist temple where I got to just love on the monks and intercede and leave the fragrance of Jesus in that place. Another time was when I had dinner. I got food from a street vendor and ended up sitting with a man named Shaw. We didn't talk much at first, I could kind of tell he wasn't the super talkative type, but after a while conversation started. He told me about his home, Germany, and his travels and then he asked me about mine. Naturally we started talking about God and discussing the different things we believe. He told me that I reminded him of a friend he met who was also Christian. He told me they met the same way we did, that he usually isn't a talkative person, but for some reason he struck up conversation with me and his other friend. His other friend was a missionary as well and he talked about his admiration for such devotion that leads to going all over the world, even dangerous places such as where his other friend did ministry. Shaw was an atheist, but was still really interested in hearing what I believe. I didn't get into a theological debate with him, because honestly I don't have the answers to the questions that are asked in such conversations. All I could tell him was testimonies of what Jesus did in my life and what I've seen Him do in others' and why, no matter what questions come up, I can't not believe in Jesus. I've seen too much! Shaw and I talked for about an hour before we parted ways and before he left he asked if he could take my picture to remember our conversation, and I snapped one of us as well. It's incredible seeing the way God has pursued him, gently placing people on his path and nudging him to go against his normal personality and strike up conversation with them so that they will tell him about the love of God. And I'm so honored to have gotten to be one of those people!
Join me in praying for these people and all the others that we get to share the love of Jesus with even in passing! Our lives are divine appointments for every one we come in contact with. Don't hold back what God wants to pour out through you:)
Here's a photo of me and Shaw in Laos!
I know we give things names like outreach, mission trips, and ministry time for lack of better terminology, but in reality, every thing we do is outreach. Everywhere we step is our mission field. Every second of our lives is ministry time. There is no compartmentalizing with Jesus. He paid a high price for every part of our life! Let's give Him every moment, every breath, every part of our hearts in this lifetime! He is more than worthy of all we could ever give.
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