I always seem to get what I want. Sometimes, if I don’t get exactly that which I want, I get something better. A couple of weeks ago, one of my bosses from our national office was here for a few days. One day we got the chance to go hiking together, and talk about a lot of things; including life, theology, existentialism, the future and the ministry here. On our way back he asked me a very involved question, “Raygan (I’m still getting used to that), what do you really want from this summer?” I said, “Yeah, that is an involved question.” That was why he asked it on the way back, he intended for it to take the whole trip. After an ample pregnant pause I said, “I just want to see God work in someone’s life. I want God to reveal Himself to someone, I want it to change their life and I want to witness it.” If you’ve read earlier posts, you know that I have been blessed enough to see this in one of my Chinese coworkers. What you may not know is that it happened about two days after I said this.
Meeting and working with him has been awesome. In one moment he’ll ask me what we believe about hell, and what we can pray for, and the next we will offer a beautiful prayer that gives thanks for God’s grace and requests peace. He now has a Bible in English and in Mandarin. He told me he reads them both at the same time to get a better sense of what the text means. He’s already better at studying the Bible than most Christians I know! He is learning a lot of basics, but I know God is working in him for a much larger purpose.
In the last couple of days, a lot of people have been asking me why I chose Mount Rushmore, and each time I think I get a puzzled look on my face. I still can’t really answer that question. I don’t think I had a reason of my own that made me include it in my list of potential park locations. It wasn’t what I was picturing, it wasn’t what I originally wanted, but it’s exactly what God had in mind. I originally wanted to be out in a national park, like most of ACMNP’s locations are. I wanted to be out and surrounded by nothing but God’s untouched, unperverted creation, so that I would know I was surrounded by God and His work. Mount Rushmore isn’t really that place, but I got so much more. Instead of being removed from society, I was put in a very touristy area. Far from isolated, I see thousands of different people every day. So I’m not in the middle of God’s untouched creation, but I am in the middle of God’s active work. I didn’t meet God on my terms, but I found that He would surround me wherever I was. Now I’m at a point where everything I could have hoped to expect has been surpassed, and I am again reliant on God for a vision for the rest of the summer. When my friend became a Christian and I needed a Bible to give to him, I received six (thanks North Shore!). Let’s hope and pray we need them.
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