Exigency
Another week has slipped past, and I'm not sure what I'm writing this post about.
*smiles*
Ok. I don't always have to have a brilliant thought to write about. I'll just tell you about everyday things. Sometimes those are actually the most brilliant things, anyway; we just don't realize it.
Dwee May Saw is propped up against my knee, looking at a catalog of sport shirts. He dragged himself into my room earlier with a big smile on his face, pulling his pile of wilted flowers, an empty tin can, and a box of crayons. It used to be that I would dread hearing him come, and would shrink inside when he flung open the door with an excited "Waah!", but now I'm not sure how I will get along without him.
He doesn't want to leave and go back to live with him grandmother (Not surprisingly. He doesn't get nearly as much attention over there), so I don't know how long he'll be here. Maybe he'll stay as long as I do. Speaking of which -
My time here is halfway done.
I miss everyone back home, honestly way more than I would admit in person, but I will miss life here too when I return. Hannah and I were wondering last night what we want to bring back home with us. The conversation started when I randomly burst out laughing from thinking about how strange it would be for me to live the way I do here, back in Arkansas. I imagined taking baths in the creek at school, in a sarong (which is totally normal here, but would be inappropriate back home), taking off my shoes before I enter a building, only sitting on the floor, sleeping on wood or concrete with no pillow or pad, being able to pour water on the floor at any time (which is somehow very liberating), walking into people's houses without letting them know you're coming to visit (although I kind of did that anyway), eating rice at every meal, speaking in very simple English, and washing my clothes outside, by hand.
It just wouldn't be the same, because the U.S. is different. Just like living the American lifestyle wouldn't really work here, either. You can't let your nose get offended over here, because you're constantly going to be smelling things you don't like. You're going to see things you don't think are very pretty. You're going to see people living simply hopeless lives, because they haven't been offered anything better.
Shame on us for staying away.
This morning, I came back to my hut from breakfast, and saw one of our Karen girls sitting in the hammock, bent over a guitar. It's normal to see her there, playing the guitar, but I quickly noticed that this time she was not ok. She was completely bent over, her face hidden, quietly crying her eyes out. I went past her to my room, paused to ask God for wisdom, and went back out to sit by her. I can't speak her language, and I don't feel like I know what to do when someone is crying (I hide if I'm crying), and I had to prepare for classes, but I put that aside and sat down beside her. I didn't know if she would push me away, but I figured that if I were in her shoes, I would probably want someone there.
She cried for more than two hours, heart-wrenching sobs telling a story more eloquent than words. I watched a stream of tears drip off her guitar, and remembered the Taylor Swift song...
What did Taylor have to cry about? A perfect guy with beautiful eyes who doesn't love her?
Ok.
This 17 year old Karen girl is crying because she is the only Christian in her family. Her mother and sister have disowned her, saying that they don't have a daughter or a sister anymore. Her mother tries to get her to worship Buddha, but she won't. She doesn't have many friends here because the broken way she grew up trained her to be a little unpleasant to be around. I don't know the pain she has been carrying for so long, but I know it's real, and it's a lot more than many of us can empathize with.
She's not the only student here who has been disowned for being a Christian. You've read about it in story books, but have you ever imagined what it would be like? Over here, family is the most important thing you have. There's no money for technology or comfortable things, or even much food. Family is all you've got, and when you don't have it...
(thankfully, these kids have Jesus)
But most of us can't understand that. We're used to having Jesus and all of our comfortable things. We're used to agreeing, going with the flow, giving in, getting what we want, when we want it....
Let me tell you some things that hurt me.
A couple weeks ago, some villagers were hanging out on our porch, because our hut is more comfortable to them than the Steck's wooden house. One younger woman had a baby with her, who had cleft palate. Not only was it hard to look at the baby, but even when you were in a different room you could hear the baby coughing. He had pneumonia so bad that he couldn't even get enough breath to cry. He was scheduled to have surgery for the cleft palate, but the doctors wouldn't operate until he was over the pneumonia. The mother does not have money...so she comes to the Steck's because they will treat her baby for free.
It hurt me that the baby was so sick. (But of course there are millions of other babies who are more sick. Let's rationalize this pain away.)
Mrs. Steck is a nurse, and with her daughter Hannah's assistance, she treats everyone who comes to her front door - for free.
Regularly, there are weathered natives sitting on her porch, their faces drawn, waiting for treatment. Some have malaria, some typhus, some dysentery, some dengue fever...and Mrs. Steck dishes out the antibiotics, pain medicine, antiseptic, and other medicines for free, because they can't pay her. They can hardly get enough food to eat.
Where do the Stecks get their medicine? They rely on God to give them money. They have no source of income other than people's generosity.
This is not just for medicine, by the way. Sunshine Orchards gets its money for food, teacher's employment, and anything else from donors. They are trying to build more dorms for students, because the enrollment is going up every year, but the money is not exactly flowing in... Karen kids are coming to this school to learn about God, and they are learning from staff who know God personally because they trust Him to provide for everything. And God is providing.
It hurts me that there are so many people back home who are spending money on excess wants when people around the world are dying for lack of basic needs. It hurts me that so many Adventists are struggling with dress or diet issues, when people just 24 hours away are dying naked and starving.
Of course, you knew that. You've read the articles, the books, the news casts. You know about the starvation epidemics, the universal pain and suffering, and you have your own struggles to deal with. You have seen the pictures of Christians murdered for their faith, of children starving in Africa, of Ebola victims covered with sheets. You know about this stuff.
There's too much suffering! I'm only one person! What can I do? I have my own problems to deal with. I'm not qualified...
If you could just realize that maybe your problems aren't as terrible as you think. Maybe you would even find your own problems solved by helping someone else. Jesus was only one Person to the whole world, and look what a difference He made. Start small! Smile at people. Go out of your way to lighten someone else's load. Take time to listen to understand, not just to reply. Physically go out of your way to help someone. Do something you're totally scared to do, something you're sure you don't have the qualifications for.
Start by looking outside of yourself and reaching out to someone else.
Start by being faithful in the little things; the things no one else sees.
Start by asking God to help you care.
Start by believing that God is real, that He is love, that He is coming again soon, that someone else very near you does not know the truth.
Live your life as if you took God seriously, and He'll take you seriously.
He'll put you in places you never thought you would go. He'll change you in such a dramatic way that you won't even recognize yourself from what other people say about you. He'll use you to turn the world upside down.
I don't mean for this to be one of those inspirational yadda-yadda's so you get all hyped-up, maybe try to do something nice for someone, and then give up and I'll be happy you at least tried. This is not one of those come-be-a-student-missionary-for-a-year-because-you'll-never-end-up-doing-it-once-you-graduate-and-get-married appeals. I'm not asking you to come to Sunshine Orcherds because they need you so badly. I'm not asking you to try to be a better person.
I'm not satisfied with mere "tries". Too many people have succeeded in merely "trying" to be Christians, trying to be good people.
I'm asking you to change your mindset, your life goals, your focus, your ambitions, your hopes, your dreams, your self. I'm asking you to do something really really hard.
Give up, and give yourself completely to God.
I don't want to see another 98% of the generation go to their graves, selfishly holding the keys to the well-being of the other 2% who were too much trouble to bother about.
How can this change be affected?
Holiness.
It's not what you think it is. It's not sticking your nose in the sky, because you will thusly stay untainted by the sin around you. It's not trying to convert everyone else to your particular lifestyle choices (ahem, zealous Adventists). It's not working your tail off for God, hoping the He'll say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"....
*smiles*
Ok. I don't always have to have a brilliant thought to write about. I'll just tell you about everyday things. Sometimes those are actually the most brilliant things, anyway; we just don't realize it.
Dwee May Saw is propped up against my knee, looking at a catalog of sport shirts. He dragged himself into my room earlier with a big smile on his face, pulling his pile of wilted flowers, an empty tin can, and a box of crayons. It used to be that I would dread hearing him come, and would shrink inside when he flung open the door with an excited "Waah!", but now I'm not sure how I will get along without him.
He doesn't want to leave and go back to live with him grandmother (Not surprisingly. He doesn't get nearly as much attention over there), so I don't know how long he'll be here. Maybe he'll stay as long as I do. Speaking of which -
My time here is halfway done.
I miss everyone back home, honestly way more than I would admit in person, but I will miss life here too when I return. Hannah and I were wondering last night what we want to bring back home with us. The conversation started when I randomly burst out laughing from thinking about how strange it would be for me to live the way I do here, back in Arkansas. I imagined taking baths in the creek at school, in a sarong (which is totally normal here, but would be inappropriate back home), taking off my shoes before I enter a building, only sitting on the floor, sleeping on wood or concrete with no pillow or pad, being able to pour water on the floor at any time (which is somehow very liberating), walking into people's houses without letting them know you're coming to visit (although I kind of did that anyway), eating rice at every meal, speaking in very simple English, and washing my clothes outside, by hand.
It just wouldn't be the same, because the U.S. is different. Just like living the American lifestyle wouldn't really work here, either. You can't let your nose get offended over here, because you're constantly going to be smelling things you don't like. You're going to see things you don't think are very pretty. You're going to see people living simply hopeless lives, because they haven't been offered anything better.
Shame on us for staying away.
This morning, I came back to my hut from breakfast, and saw one of our Karen girls sitting in the hammock, bent over a guitar. It's normal to see her there, playing the guitar, but I quickly noticed that this time she was not ok. She was completely bent over, her face hidden, quietly crying her eyes out. I went past her to my room, paused to ask God for wisdom, and went back out to sit by her. I can't speak her language, and I don't feel like I know what to do when someone is crying (I hide if I'm crying), and I had to prepare for classes, but I put that aside and sat down beside her. I didn't know if she would push me away, but I figured that if I were in her shoes, I would probably want someone there.
She cried for more than two hours, heart-wrenching sobs telling a story more eloquent than words. I watched a stream of tears drip off her guitar, and remembered the Taylor Swift song...
What did Taylor have to cry about? A perfect guy with beautiful eyes who doesn't love her?
Ok.
This 17 year old Karen girl is crying because she is the only Christian in her family. Her mother and sister have disowned her, saying that they don't have a daughter or a sister anymore. Her mother tries to get her to worship Buddha, but she won't. She doesn't have many friends here because the broken way she grew up trained her to be a little unpleasant to be around. I don't know the pain she has been carrying for so long, but I know it's real, and it's a lot more than many of us can empathize with.
She's not the only student here who has been disowned for being a Christian. You've read about it in story books, but have you ever imagined what it would be like? Over here, family is the most important thing you have. There's no money for technology or comfortable things, or even much food. Family is all you've got, and when you don't have it...
(thankfully, these kids have Jesus)
But most of us can't understand that. We're used to having Jesus and all of our comfortable things. We're used to agreeing, going with the flow, giving in, getting what we want, when we want it....
Let me tell you some things that hurt me.
A couple weeks ago, some villagers were hanging out on our porch, because our hut is more comfortable to them than the Steck's wooden house. One younger woman had a baby with her, who had cleft palate. Not only was it hard to look at the baby, but even when you were in a different room you could hear the baby coughing. He had pneumonia so bad that he couldn't even get enough breath to cry. He was scheduled to have surgery for the cleft palate, but the doctors wouldn't operate until he was over the pneumonia. The mother does not have money...so she comes to the Steck's because they will treat her baby for free.
It hurt me that the baby was so sick. (But of course there are millions of other babies who are more sick. Let's rationalize this pain away.)
Mrs. Steck is a nurse, and with her daughter Hannah's assistance, she treats everyone who comes to her front door - for free.
Regularly, there are weathered natives sitting on her porch, their faces drawn, waiting for treatment. Some have malaria, some typhus, some dysentery, some dengue fever...and Mrs. Steck dishes out the antibiotics, pain medicine, antiseptic, and other medicines for free, because they can't pay her. They can hardly get enough food to eat.
Where do the Stecks get their medicine? They rely on God to give them money. They have no source of income other than people's generosity.
This is not just for medicine, by the way. Sunshine Orchards gets its money for food, teacher's employment, and anything else from donors. They are trying to build more dorms for students, because the enrollment is going up every year, but the money is not exactly flowing in... Karen kids are coming to this school to learn about God, and they are learning from staff who know God personally because they trust Him to provide for everything. And God is providing.
It hurts me that there are so many people back home who are spending money on excess wants when people around the world are dying for lack of basic needs. It hurts me that so many Adventists are struggling with dress or diet issues, when people just 24 hours away are dying naked and starving.
Of course, you knew that. You've read the articles, the books, the news casts. You know about the starvation epidemics, the universal pain and suffering, and you have your own struggles to deal with. You have seen the pictures of Christians murdered for their faith, of children starving in Africa, of Ebola victims covered with sheets. You know about this stuff.
There's too much suffering! I'm only one person! What can I do? I have my own problems to deal with. I'm not qualified...
If you could just realize that maybe your problems aren't as terrible as you think. Maybe you would even find your own problems solved by helping someone else. Jesus was only one Person to the whole world, and look what a difference He made. Start small! Smile at people. Go out of your way to lighten someone else's load. Take time to listen to understand, not just to reply. Physically go out of your way to help someone. Do something you're totally scared to do, something you're sure you don't have the qualifications for.
Start by looking outside of yourself and reaching out to someone else.
Start by being faithful in the little things; the things no one else sees.
Start by asking God to help you care.
Start by believing that God is real, that He is love, that He is coming again soon, that someone else very near you does not know the truth.
Live your life as if you took God seriously, and He'll take you seriously.
He'll put you in places you never thought you would go. He'll change you in such a dramatic way that you won't even recognize yourself from what other people say about you. He'll use you to turn the world upside down.
I don't mean for this to be one of those inspirational yadda-yadda's so you get all hyped-up, maybe try to do something nice for someone, and then give up and I'll be happy you at least tried. This is not one of those come-be-a-student-missionary-for-a-year-because-you'll-never-end-up-doing-it-once-you-graduate-and-get-married appeals. I'm not asking you to come to Sunshine Orcherds because they need you so badly. I'm not asking you to try to be a better person.
I'm not satisfied with mere "tries". Too many people have succeeded in merely "trying" to be Christians, trying to be good people.
I'm asking you to change your mindset, your life goals, your focus, your ambitions, your hopes, your dreams, your self. I'm asking you to do something really really hard.
Give up, and give yourself completely to God.
I don't want to see another 98% of the generation go to their graves, selfishly holding the keys to the well-being of the other 2% who were too much trouble to bother about.
How can this change be affected?
Holiness.
It's not what you think it is. It's not sticking your nose in the sky, because you will thusly stay untainted by the sin around you. It's not trying to convert everyone else to your particular lifestyle choices (ahem, zealous Adventists). It's not working your tail off for God, hoping the He'll say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"....
Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven.
The Desire of Ages, pg. 555.6
There you have it. Holiness is simply surrendering your entirety to God and the essence of heaven.
Do it, and you will be completed changed. You can show others what heaven is like, without yet being there. God can use you to work mighty things that you cannot imagine doing. God is holy, and He asks you to be, as well.
He can use you!
Can I say this with enough earnest appeal? I'm talking to you. It doesn't matter who you are; you're alive, you're a human being. God can use you.
What are you going to do? Will you let Him? Will you take God seriously?
Please. The world needs you.
Amen. . . oh, that we, that I, would be faithful.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the name of the girl who was crying because her family disowned her?
It was Chit Chit Way. : )
ReplyDelete