24 hours

The past 24 hours have been a blur...

• This time last night our landlord’s wife came to our house and asked Brant to help take her sick husband to the hospital in the next biggest town, 30 minutes away. Despite the fact that we were in the middle of dinner and 2 of the boys are sick, we were excited to have an oppotunity to build relationships with them and help them out. Brant jumped up, showered, changed, got the car cleaned out, and grabbed coffee for what we thought would be a long night and went to knock on their door... only to find out the house all locked up and dark... they had decided to call a taxi.

• We were furious - how dare they change plans without even bothering to tell us? Until we realized that perhaps Brant had taken too long in getting ready.... and in their Asian mind-set, a person would never come out and say “no” to a request for help.... he just would find a “polite” way to get out of it.... so basically Brant had turned them down when they asked for a help... in a very “polite” yet insulting way.

• Sleepless night... what had started as an opportunity to build relationships has turned very bad fast.

• This morning - I am exhausted and trying to get the boys breakfast when we hear screaming bloody murder outside. Run outside... our neighbor (different neighbor - 2 houses away) was outside sweeping her porch and fell over dead. Screaming, wailing, horribleness for hours by her family. Funeral preparations begin right away.

• Our landlord and his wife spent the whole day avoiding all contact with us... Brant came home from shopping this morning and they got up off their front porch, went inside and closed the door and windows without so much as glancing at him. Later the wife came out, saw us, turned around and went right back in.

• We spend the day with 2 sick, fussy boys, trying to figure out what to do with our landlord and his family and what to do for our neighbors... the daughter of the lady who died is a good friend of mine and teaches the boys’ Bible class here in the neighborhood.

• Tried to get Elijah’s room set up to homeschool. Went and taught my class at the school and tried to wade through piles of dishes and laundry when all I really wanted to do is sleep.

• Made a new Indonesian dish for dinner tonight - soto ayam, or a type of “layered” chicken soup made with lemongrass. It’s my favorite dish, but have never been brave enough to make it. Wasn’t the day to try a new recipe, but had already planned to make it today, didn’t have anything else on hand. It turned out SO good. Will make it for you next time we’re back in the States! :) Nice bright spot in the day. :)

• Got the kids in bed by 6:30. Praising the Lord they went to sleep right away. Praising the Lord that the funeral got postponed til tomorrow. Praising the Lord that our landlord did come out this evening and talk to Brant and Brant got to explain his side of the story and apologize for whatever cultural cues we obviously missed. Who knows if things are actually patched over?

• Taking tylenol and going to bed. Praying that the thunder that’s rolling in will not turn into a huge storm and wake the boys. Gotta love missionary life sometimes. :)

Jesus was a tukang kayu

This afternoon the boys and I went to the weekly kid's Bible class in our neighborhood. The teacher, a young mom who lives up the hill from us, varies widely each week in her doctrine and some days I'm very thankful that the boys don't pick up much from the lessons! But today I was really challenged by what she said...

She was talking about the Great Commission and how we all should play a part in sharing the Gospel. She said "Jesus didn't go to university or have a lot of money... he was a tukang kayu.... a wood worker... And the people he gave that commandment to weren't rich or smart or well-educated or have powerful positions or jobs.... they were orang biasa... ordinary people."

I looked around the room at the crowd of little brown and black faces with no shoes on... they were definitely ordinary kids from ordinary homes. Their parents are not rich and are not well educated. Not a single one has running water in his home and many don't even have electricity. They don't get enough to eat and take their baths in the river every day; many have never even travelled to the "big city" half an hour from us.... ordinary people in this society.

Our neighbor is a wood worker... he works barefooted out in the sun all day with rudimentary tools - he makes a living, but would never be considered rich. His job doesn't command respect from the powerful people in this society - the government leaders and the church leaders - rich from corruption and disdainful of the ordinary people.

It struck me that Christ was born into the same life... He probably didn't get enough nutritious food to eat. He didn't live in the nice house in the neighborhood. His parents probably worried about money or what would happen if one of their children should get sick... Christ worked a trade that would provide enough food to survive, but would never lead to a life of ease and comfort. It was not a glamorous job and certainly not the type of job that would be a natural stair step into the position of religious leader of all time....

But how amazing that Christ was Who He was.... and that centuries later little ordinary Asian kids could look to Christ and know that He was accessible to them... that He didn't just come to the rich and powerful and that you don't have to be rich and powerful to be a servant of Christ. It almost made me cry praising the Lord for His wisdom in choosing such a life style that would resonate so deeply with so many ordinary people.

I put a lot of faith in my college and missions training... years and years of schooling, so that I will be a good missionary. :) But Christ calls these ordinary children to do the same job that I am doing and equips them through the Holy Spirit to be effective servants... with or without a college degree, new shoes and running water... He Himself didn't have those things either.