Disrupted

It is probably nothing new to you. You probably already know. I did, but I had forgotten. When things just go along as they should, or as I think they should, when everything is normal, we tend to fall asleep. I remember traveling with a recruiting group from York College called “Friends”. We would often travel from a summer camp in Wisconsin or Minnesota to a camp in Kansas or Texas, driving through the night to get there on time. We all shared the driving duties, but the night shift was for our manager, Scott Lambert and Brett Osborne, who was reliable. We didn’t want anyone falling asleep at the wheel. 

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)

It is interesting to see that when God is saving His people, He never does it the way that they anticipated. As a matter of fact, it is almost always in a way that no one expected and most have difficulty accepting. The people fleeing Egypt ask Mozes why he brought them to this sea where they are caught between a watery death and death by Pharaoh. But Mozes hadn’t brought them there, God had. 

When the disciples finally come to Jesus and ask/plead to send the crowd away to get something to eat, Jesus has other plans. He is the one who talked so long and knew that it would come to this. He knows what He can do with a young boy’s lunch. And when the disciples tell Jesus about his friend Lazarus who is sick, Jesus decides to wait a bit longer because he knows what he is going to do. God likes to surprise us. Or is it that we simply have a hard time expecting what God can do and are thus always surprised?

It is not God’s purpose that we all have a nice quiet life together. That is not why we are here. We have come to Jesus to join his kingdom and fight to free ever more people from the slavery of sin and death. Paul tells Timothy, “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” (2 Tim. 2:4). So I shouldn’t be surprised when my life gets turned upside down. I should hunker down and move the direction God is taking me. After all, that is why Paul mentions the footwear of the Roman soldier in Ephesians 6 - the gospel of peace. 

God is the Master of using disruption for good. Satan likes to disturb and destroy. There are all sorts of ways that Satan keeps us busy. And sometimes he just wants us to fall asleep. But that is not why we are here - and God makes sure that we know that. So I am trying to see best how God can use me in this time. Wait a minute - let me rephrase that. I don’t need to see how He is going to do it. I don’t need to understand. I simply need to keep doing what I know He desires and trust in His strength and might. Then He can use me mightily - however He wishes. 

We still cannot get across the border, where most of our work was going on. We are trying to keep in touch with seekers in other ways - using computers, phones or good old snail mail. The church has jumped into the silence, stirring up the ‘everyday’ with all sorts of ‘unique’. We are talking to each other more now than before, concerned with each others spiritual health and growth. We are praying not only for the good health of those around us, but are more than ever aware of the need to pray for spiritual salvation. 

The sun is shining outside and has been for the last several weeks. We have started to get used to the way we do things in these corona days. Each day often looks like every other - so much so that we sometimes have a hard time remembering which day of the week it is. Time for this to be disrupted. The government here has communicated their plans to move out of isolation. I am excited and wondering what God will do next. No matter what, I am trying to remain faithful and ready to follow wherever He will lead in the coming days. 

Maybe we will go back to some of the activities we had before. We are still hoping that our summer Bible camps will be allowed to continue. Maybe we will be forced into some completely new ways of doing things. But no disruption will be able to take me away from Him who has conquered and makes me a conqueror. 

It is time to wake up, O sleeper. Walk in the Light, every day. Here is one of my favorite songs (written by my colleague) expressing this mighty passage: Romans 8:31-39.