from WOW(!!) to "WHAT IN THE WORLD??"

It's incredibly amazing what kind of opposites one faces in a day.  Preschoolers have parents and teachers teaching them opposites.  I remember teaching it to my kids while home schooling them in the early years.  Put it into more challenging adult behavioral content and one can only pray they have the maturity and grace to always approach such matters the right way.  

For months I have been waiting with indescribable burden to be part of the more life risking movement to take the gospel to the unreached.  With global tensions between the Muslim community and the rest of the world continuing to escalate to great proportions, it was inevitable that today would turn out as it did.  I can't get out of my mind that gnawing question, "do I love Jesus enough to risk my life to help take the gospel even to the most hostile regions of the world?"  It has caused this heart to question many other things.  Though, surely it's a good thing.  The great commission in Matthew 28 is not just for a select few in the church.  It's for everyone.  Jesus never told the disciples to pick a few.  Romans 10 makes so many things clear.  Things that often leave this heart restless knowing full well I'm just not doing EVERYthing to help fulfill that call.  

We often have family discussions about the call to make disciples and what that's suppose to look like for us as a family.  We pray for countries by picking a country to pray for every night.  Operation world dot org is an incredible source for that with videos included.  A percentage of our support goes into the radio ministry that we do.  But really, is there not some way STILL that we could be doing to help those who are the hands and feet risking their lives for the sake for the nations?

Over  a year ago, Mike ran into a Pakistani at the public transit train station.  [It never ceases to amaze me how in his sovereignty God continues to have his children cross paths for specific purposes...ultimately for the purpose of glorifying him.  If we could physically create a puzzle representing ALL the church members around the world and the work we have ALL been involved in together here there and everywhere as our lives cross paths and intertwine, weaving here, there ......and EVERYWHERE, would it even be possible to count all those puzzle pieces much less put them all together ourselves?  What human being could possible wrap their minds around what God does with all of us....right?]  Raza and his lovely bride moved to Manila with their nine month old son, three years ago, to take part in the Campus Crusade seminary program.  Now that he's graduated they are flying back home to take the gospel to some of the most remote unreached people groups in Pakistan: muslims [that are hard to get to because of muslim terrorist activities].   Until tonight Mike didn't really know a whole lot of Raza's background, what seminary school he was actually attending here or the history of Pakistan. Neither did I.  It's a WOWser.

After over a year we finally were able to "officially" get together with them in hopes to get to know them more/better.  In the mean time we had noticed we have mutual friends via social media.  But tonight I had no idea what would transpire over the course of our time together over coffee.  Whoever knows that they'll be fighting tears in their first meeting with anybody they had only ever barely heard about?  I was full of questions.  From Pakistani history, to the muslim community and it's activity, to his family history and how his ancestors had gotten out of the Hindu cast system before Pakistan broke away from India, to how God saved him from fatal incidences....on and on I was full of questions.  After all, we seemed to only have tonight to get to know this dear couple before they fly home to Karachi, Pakistan in a few days.

This couple is profoundly burdened for their fellow countrymen.  They are willing to risk their lives to help with infrastructure for people in remote VERY hard to reach places that are extremely dangerous to get to....all for the sake of taking the gospel to them.  In their early 30's they are grasping the urgency of eternity much faster than Mike and I did.  As he shared of projects that an organization has already helped with and other projects he has been already covering in prayer for the future and has people waiting for him to help with, Mike couldn't help but ask Raza about his family's needs.  Even though we still feel like the newbies on the field, we all know that the needs and provisions of the family are just as important and shouldn't be dismissed even when sharing to potential partners.  We certainly saw ourselves already as potential partners with them even before tonight.  He wouldn't even discuss it.  It's amazing how God moves us in conversations to open up and share what he planned for us to share.  Mike shared of his own struggle with strategy versus faith and trust, with where it's okay and right to spend donated funds, if we should feel guilty when funds are required to even get some R&R for a day or so away from the most stressful task at hand, when we shouldn't feel guilty and then of course where/when he realized there was some areas that truly needed serious addressing because the mind set was leaning more towards bondage and not in the freedom to serve and trust the Lord.  That little bit of sharing opened up more sharing.  

Then Mike posed the question differently, "what is the cost of living in Karachi?"  Long story short, Raza went on to say that no one has ever asked to help with his family's personal needs.  All others have only ever asked about the project numbers.  He started to tear up and took the Starbucks napkin to wipe the tears he couldn't fight off.  I couldn't fight the tears out of pure joy that AT LAST here was God presenting us with where he had in mind, since eternity past, to be part of reaching the unreached with the gospel.  We could do so with new personal friends.  Here it is!  Here they are!!!!  Being on the field, we know and understand.  Karachi is a metropolitan city like Manila.  The cost of living in Manila is outrageous.  So, we're on the same page.  We know the financial challenges ahead for them and so the heart behind the giving is basically in sync with their hearts....for lack of better words.  The Lord has been so gracious to use us to do our part in radio ministry with positivelypinoy.com and he's being even more gracious to have us be as directly involved as possible with new friends willing to risk their lives.

If you are reading this, please pray that God Almighty will bring more supporters alongside Raza and his family for their personal needs along with their project needs.  While we can be 201% confident in God to provide for the work he assigns us all as we serve him around the world, he still commands us to take EVERYTHING to him and plead on behalf of each other and those he calls us to reach.   I love how Revelation reminds us that God takes the prayers of his saints and adds fire blazing power to them, throwing back to the earth and DOES SOMETHING with them for his glory.  Like, he ACTS when we pray.  We don't always visibly see the results of every prayer but thank goodness we can know that they go not unheard.  Scriptures says, "you do not have because you ask not."  And in John 15:5 we are reminded that apart from God we can do NOTHING.  GOD supplies EVERYTHING for GOD's work with GOD's power when his people pray, trust and obey.

So, what's the "What in the world??"

We had taken public transportation via several buses to another side of Manila.  Taking public transportation in the city of chaos can suck the energy right out of a person especially on a hot tropical summer day.  You can find yourself sweating puddles even when you're doing nothing but riding while someone else is driving if there's no A/C.  We've sweat puddles going between different train stations, walking to/from the bus, walking to the jeepney, to the trike and on to the final destination.  We understand why many passengers are literally sleeping on the bus or jeepney in the midst of dizzying smoggy sensory overloading traffic chaos, on the way home, at the end of the day.  It's exhaustive.  

By the time we were done with our "meeting" I was ready to collapse just thinking about getting back out in all that high volume chaos.  But out we went.  Tyler needed the car to get to his last junior senior banquet so we just needed to do our best with public transit so he wouldn't have to.  We took the bus, the train and then waited for an empty taxi.  Once in the taxi, I should've been paying attention to the immediate warning signs, had the driver stop and gotten us out of that situation within seconds.  But, exhaustion can take the blame this time.  The driver was already complaining about having to drive through a lot of traffic [as if it was out of the ordinary].  Next thing I know that meter is jacked and is jumping four digits at a time.  The driver keeps trying to keep a conversation with Mike but he hasn't fooled me.  I'm watching that puppy and I'm getting more and more perplexed.  The driver went on and on about the dishonesty of one of the presidential candidates who claims not to be in pursuit of money and power only to be found that he has over two billion pesos sitting in his bank account (voting day is on the 9th this month just around the corner) and here this taxi driver himself was ripping us off.  But it was like the Lord just said I needed to sit back, let this one slide and let it be a lesson of some sort.  How many of us have found ourselves puzzled when our parents have told us not to get our panties in a wad and practice mercy with a kid that had offended us, hurt us or bullied us even?  So many words were going through my mind of what the driver needed to hear from me so that, at the very least, he'd know that I knew what he was doing.  But I kept my mouth shut.  Uncharacteristic of me.  I'm typically quick to question a driver of what he's up to. I tend to bite the hand that tries to steal from me because my husband is a white foreigner.  The mind was saying he took more than he even agreed to take of MY money.  Then God reminded me it's his money.  What's in the driver's pocket is God's money too.  It's all his.  Let God deal with it this time.  Ok, trust God to deal with him.

Just when I think God has decided we are to be trusted to move and be a part of something, which happens to also involve money, he tests us AGAIN.  Does humble pie come in chocolate flavor?  What about rocky road because that's my favorite?  Stay humble no matter where God's grace takes you.  Gulp.  There is always something you have yet to learn, be tested through.....and glorify God with.