It's Easier Than you Think
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:35
This is mission work. It’s finding yourself having dinner with some random Indonesians on a Thursday night, perhaps studying with a highschool student who still doesn’t fully understand Adventism, or maybe performing range of motion exercises on someone who has a slight limp. My perspective of ministry has changed for the better during my experience here, and yea, it’s easier than you think.
According to the books, ministry is often knocking on doors, preaching behind the pulpit, or working in a clinic. And that is completely correct, however, it is also simpler than that. We get the big picture very well but we miss the details. Ministry isn’t always the planned and organized events that come your way, but sometime the spontaneous people and activities that you find yourself in.
Story time with Josh:
It was a typical Monday morning and I’m doing my daily run to the lagoon, and there I ran into Omar talking to this man. So I approach them and we all talk and I learn that this man is half Indonesian. Kaboom! The thing is this, Palau has plenty of Filipinos and Bangladeshi people, but it is seldom that you run into Indonesians. So this man goes on to show me a house in which a bunch of Balinese (Indo’s from Bali) people live and I’m thinking to myself praise the Lord, we can have an Indonesian potluck. So I approach the lady sitting on the bench and her eyes grew as big as the moon as I said “selamat pagi tante” (good morning, mam in an epic Indonesian voice). I told her my story and immediately she invited me in and I conversed with this group of workers, over a warm glass of tapioca pudding. That warm glass of pudding than lead on to a conversation of my mission here in Palau, as well as a scheduling of a full on Indonesian dinner sometime real soon, praise Jesus. But then it hit me…..this is mission work.
Yes mission work consists of preaching, healing, rebuking, and passing out of tracts. However, in its simplest form, it is being there for people and loving them. And it is through this outward showing of love and care, that many are brought to Jesus. Sometimes that’s going to look like a dinner with the locals, or sweeping the house of one of the elderly ladies, but that doesn’t make your work any less important then that of an evangelist. As much as I may be found in the pulpit or the clinic, I hope I will be found besides someone that needs a little bit of love and care.
