| unpack those bags 02.18.03 |
| Every year, the World Christian Conference brings something new and surprising into my life. I go there not knowing what lesson God has to teach me, and every year, I feel that clear call of the direction in which He is leading. The first year, I wanted to go somewhere, but I felt that it was still time for me to stay and build up relationships with people at work. The second year, I felt that He was affirming my decision to go to Brazil. This year, I felt that He was affirming my decision to stay at home, and He did this mostly through Lee Yih's messages. It's finally time to unpack my bags and know that I'll be staying "home" for awhile. Lee Yih spoke a lot about the lay person's role in the workplace. You can turn the secular into the spiritual if your focus is on God. Do I have to feel guilty that I am not immediately returning to Brazil and using my journalism skills there full-time? No. If I don't feel that urge to go back right away, it's okay. I am extremely excited to start a job, build up relationships with my co-workers and share God's love to a new arena of people...or a new sphere of influence, as Lee put it. I can't wait to start training capoeira again so that I can meet new people. I think part of this eagerness comes with moving to a new place, starting new, and looking to find my niche in the community. But the other part comes from wanting to carry out my role in the Great Commission here at home. Lee talked about building up relationships with people and getting into their world. Step into their comfort zone and meet them where they are. Build up friendships with the people you have a heart for and take it to the point where they ask you why you're different from them. Hopefully, I could answer with confidence and honesty that the difference is because I have God in my life and His love is something that you can't help but want to share with others as well. And that leads me to another thing that has been on my heart for awhile now. Sure, I can tell people that having God in my heart and feeling His love makes me see things in a different way, but will I be able to say it truthfully? On some days, I admit that I don't feel that much love toward people. Sometimes I would rather just hole up in my own room than get together with people and socialize. I deal with those plaguing issues like pride and impatience that cause me to react to people in an unGodly manner. But this year, as I know that meeting new people is inevitable, I desire to make my relationship with God a constant growth process so that when people meet me, the love of God will be oozing out of me, rather than my own imperfections. |
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