I wrote last about feeling like I don't belong in my own element. Some of the comments I got started me thinking...
Is there something God plants in us as children that make us predisposed to feel more comfortable with different people?
Sandi wrote about being in a crowd of Americans and feeling out of place until she found an African to talk to.
Jeff had a deep down love for the people of Ft. Portal before he ever met them, and an adventurous spirit to take him there.
Anthony calls his family the "poster family for diversity" but he loved all different kinds of people before he ever met Maureen.
Papa John worshipped with a Japanese congregation in LA in the 1960's and it changed his life, and his legacy.
Cheryl has a heart of gold and her feet firmly planted at the feet of Jesus' throne. Her place and her circumstance on earth seem almost irrelevant. But she chose to go with Jeff even though there were no other American women there.
I look back over my life before Togo and think of the people I "clicked" with-- Sumi, Emiko, Brenda, Mariya, Marie-Claire-- many of my most natural friendships were with people not like me. It's like I was born with the desire to be with people from other places. I wonder if a lot of other missionaries were, too.
I think it's a gift and I thank God for it. It sure has made life interesting.
1 comment:
amen, Greg.
Patty, I know what you mean. I was listening to a Michael Card podcast the other day and he calls this very thing "community." It's a God-given desire to click with a group, like our team, made of people who aren't like us, to reflect God's diverse (?) nature. This is how the church should be, and often times isn't. What a shame!
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