Yesterday I realized that I am struggling with reality. Probably due to the fact that some teammates talked me into watching Inception on our long Russia flight. Excellent movie with some great out of the box thoughts, and ironically really pertinent to what someone goes through after being on an international mission trip…which is the true reality?
As an American, I am completely guilty of living in extreme comfort. Driving a car. Eating 2-3 meals a day. Having a job that I love. Owning a smart phone that makes me accessible for a large part of the day. Heating and air conditioning. Clean water. Indoor plumbing with toilets. Going out to eat…I could go on forever.
What happens when you get outside of our borders is a harsh reality that 90% of the rest of the earth…well, their definition of comfort is different. Does that make their definition wrong? No. Does that make our definition wrong? No, but…we have so much and try to impose our definition on everyone else. There is so much beauty in how other cultures live.
Do you see my struggle with reality yet? When you spend 6 days with some amazing kids that just happen to be orphans, God changes the tilt of your world. And frankly, I like the tilt a lot. I didn’t know what love truly was until I started going to Russia. It’s deep. True. Loyal. Unconditional. Unwavering. It is caring about someone so much that you are willing to sacrifice whatever you need to in order to make their life better. It’s going through a horrendous amount of travel to get to one small town. It is a 2 hours bus ride to see someone you haven’t seen in a year. It is a pipe cleaner made into a bracelet that becomes a gift because it is all they have to give. It is feeling like your heart will explode because you love them so much, yet you don’t know how it is possible to love someone that much who you barely know by our normal social standards. And this has nothing to do with romantic, intimate love…and everything to do with the purity and perfection of God’s love through us. It is eternal love manifesting in our world.
It is being the closest you will ever be to God’s heart.
And essentially, being the best ‘you’ you will ever be at the same time.
It is truly getting a glimpse into God’s Kingdom like John did in Revelation 4.
It’s also kind of like being put into the Matrix with all of these skills and talents that you never knew you could possess…good to know I am a dork, right? I couldn’t make an Inception reference without fitting the Matrix in, right? Seriously, though, God gives you everything you will need to minister to those around you. And just because I am the best ‘me’ when I am in the international mission field, doesn’t mean that is where God created you to love others.
So…reality…what is your reality? How does it need to change? Are you fulfilling God’s call on your life? When are you the best ‘you’? How’s the tilt of your world? Just some questions to mess with your day!
sojourner4jesus 