March 27, 2011

• Confessions

  I have a confession to make. We are really and truly content here where we are, with our life and our location and the circumstances we find ourselves in. A few years back i do confess that i had this scheme that we would move overseas as missionaries and then somehow find a company to work for that would pay us to live here so we wouldnt have to raise support (for our ministry with MAF). I thought, then, that opting out of the seemingly uncomfortable situation of being dependent on others for our finances was the better option. 5 years into it though i reckon that i can stare that Temptation in the face… and turn away.
  

  It is a common misconception in the world today that more is better. Independence is better. “The good life” (money, position, recognition, and whatever else falls into that) is better. I’ve come to realize here that there is the “good life” and then there is “the Better Life”, and that’s what we’ve got baby! Contentment (in any circumstance, whether rich or poor, well fed or hungry), Position, and Recognition by the only One that matters in this world. There is nothing better than that, and i truly believe it. There are many people (many!) who simply cannot understand that concept at all. The idea of living in a poverty stricken country, surrounded by challenges and cultural differences – things that dont make ANY sense! – removed from family and friends and the comforts of “home”, and being content and happy with what you’ve got, so content and secure in fact that we can give a lot of what we have away is a foreign concept to many people outside the Kingdom Culture. (and perhaps to some within the Kingdom Culture as well, sadly).

  Of course, it is entirely possible to have “the Better Life” in Canada, however i’m starting to realize that it might not be as easy a choice as it is here where we are confronted with stark contrasts on a daily basis. I’m realizing that those who do support us (our ministry with MAF) financially are undoubtedly living in a far more challenging cross-cultural experience that we are in many ways. It’s becoming slowly, and only partially obvious to us naive missionaries, removed from the “Babylon society” of Western culture that there are pressures, temptations, and conflicts of Kingdom Culture interests that we have not had to even think about while being here. It scares me, i confess. Does it scare you? To be sure, we are not immune from these things where we’re at. I reckon the virus comes from the very heart of man – every man no matter what class or socio-economic level he finds himself in. Ach, but the temptations seem more black and white here, less concealed in the garb of ‘good’, the “Better” cast more roughly in the shadow in a more affluent and hedonistic country.
  
  I read something in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver about produce that makes so much sense here: that you can tell the natural, “organic” goodness of a piece of fruit by it’s blemishes. The ones that look perfect have been made that way, disguised, as it were – but the cost of “perfection” is the inherent goodness of the fruit, the lack of nutrients and the addition of lesser things. The ‘good’ fruit looks nicer, but the ones with the blemishes are Better.

  

  

  Anyway, all that to say, things look a lot different through Kingdom Culture lenses than through any other lens… Upsidedown, you could say. May we seek to wear those lenses more often.

  • 8:38 am
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