I’m not a worrier. I can remember only a very few times in my life when anxiety overwhelmed me. I don’t think any of these experiences were rooted in any one particular cause, but rather just a general feeling that things (whatever the things were, I don’t remember any of them now) were slipping out of my control. A couple of nights before I was to leave for Mae Ai, Thailand I felt a sense of creeping dread. Thoughts began to race through my mind. I hadn’t prepared properly for the trip. I hadn’t organized my thoughts and my plans were only loosely sketched in my mind. Did I have the right message for each of those with whom I would meet? Who was I to think that I could help any of these ministries in any way? Was I going to have enough money to meet all of my needs and be able to help those who might have urgent needs as well? Somewhere in the midst of my inner groaning it dawned on me that I might ought to pray. After telling God that I wasn’t really sure what I was doing and asking if He would please help me through all this, at some point I drifted off to sleep.

Before I knew it I was walking through the doors of the international terminal at the Atlanta airport where the ritual of herding and holding that is air travel began. After being herded through the check in counter, boarding passes in hand I was herded through the TSA checkpoint. Having made it through the chute I was released to find my holding pen, the gate where I and the rest of the cattle would be loaded onto the plane that would shuffle us off to different parts of the world. First stop Doha, Qatar. Here we repeated the process of lining up to go through security again just in case someone on the other side of the world missed something that would be a danger to someone on this side of the world. As I dutifully began to place my belongings in the bins to be x-rayed I reached for my belt, my money belt. It was not around my waist. I stood rigid for about one second and reached again as though my first attempt was somehow misdirected. JOLT! It definitely was not there.

For a few seconds a mild sense of panic welled up in me. Most of the money that would finance my trip was in that belt. The dread that had slithered into my mind that night prior to the trip rushed back into my thoughts. But then, just as He had so many times before, the Lord comforted my heart quite suddenly and completely. I had removed $500 dollars from my belt earlier so that I would have some cash to exchange when I landed in Thailand. So, I wouldn’t be completely out of cash. And I had a credit card which I could use to pay for my hotels and additional airfare and travel expenses. After all, this was the Lord’s trip. It was for His purpose. It was for His glory. “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2Cor 5:18 I had anxiety about my readiness, about my ability to pay for it all. Don’t get me wrong, losing the money stinks! But God was not surprised. No, He had prepared the way and now I knew He was preparing my mind and spirit for the work that lay ahead.

The next twenty days traveling through Thailand and Cambodia, renewing acquaintances and meeting new people, was another amazing and life changing experience. Unless you’ve been outside the sphere of western influence you can’t really begin to imagine how different much of the world is. It’s so easy to be a christian here at home in the good ol’ USofA. Especially down here in the Bible Belt where I guess everyone is a christian. Well, at least all of the good people are christians. Well maybe at least all those that think like we do are christians. Forgive my sarcasm, it’s a fault of mine and we are supposed to confess our faults one to another. But what I’ve seen the last couple of weeks would cause even a truly introspective christian to question whether their commitment to Christ has real legs or not. I love christian fellowship, I crave it. It’s easy to find here at home just about anywhere you go. Persecution is pretty limited, a few jeers, some scorn or ridicule, perhaps an occasional cussing. I met Pastor Somkid and his wife in PitakKiree village in the mountains of Thailand. He has been hated by the village chief and all of his neighbors for twenty years. Why? He had the audacity to place a cross on the front of the church building. It was bad enough to have a church at all, but putting up a cross! That was the last straw. For twenty years he has been the only witness for Christ on that mountain. For twenty years they have been trying to drive him away. My friend scarcely had time to interpret one account of his trials before he began relating another. If the villagers never repent I cringe at what awaits them when they must give an account for their treatment of the man of God!

As I sat and listened to Pastor Somkid I was convicted of the leisurely way that I typically order my day. I don’t know that I’ve ever had to pray, “Lord protect me today when I walk out my door this morning and take a stand for you!” Even in my jail ministry I could always count on a few allies inside when they shut the door behind me. What if we never once in twenty years had someone invite us for coffee, tell us good morning, smile at us, or even passively acknowledge our humanity and presence in the community. What if every interaction we had with our neighbors sparked contempt at best but more often than not open hostility. What if we had to wait months or years for a friendly face to come and pray with us and encourage us. The hospitality and humble gratitude in the smiles of this dear couple could not mask the weariness of the weight of the constant vexation they have endured.

And what of ourselves? How many years have we sat and listened to the man of God exhort us, encourage us, warn us from the Word of God. The command was, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…” and that was given to all. One may say, “But I’m not a preacher, not a deacon, not a Sunday school teacher, I can’t preach the gospel.” Do you not know that every day, all day, you are preaching something? And that every day your congregation hears you loud and clear. Whether it is a congregation of one or of many. Whether it is the clerk at the bank, the store, or the people at work, or our spouse, our children, we preach every day by our words and deeds. God forgive me that it should take a trip halfway around the world to remind me that the priorities in my life are not supposed to be my comfort, my ease, my social standing or my prosperity. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” To seek the kingdom is to be reminded that Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Parenthesis are added to provide more clarity or to add more detail to the thought being conveyed to a reader. My life was put into parenthesis for a couple of weeks in a strange land. People were excited to see me. They were eager to hear me preach. They seemed to think that I would be a blessing to them. I’m humbled to think that God used me to be an encouragement to the many people that I met along the way. But they really have no way of knowing how much of a blessing they were to me. Pastor Somkid was at the extreme end, but all of these precious laborers for the Lord do so in a hostile environment. Buddhism, Animism, contempt for christianity, ignorance of truth, spiritual wickedness in high places, a darkness that can be felt. Few see a bountiful harvest. Those that do are working mainly with children. Some with the support of the village chief and elders, others with children that have been discarded and are at risk of exploitation by the dark forces of this world. Most see only gleanings. Some see very little fruit but remain faithful to sow the seed and that alone is reason for hope, for, “My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

God wasn’t surprised when I lost my money. It was His anyway. He provided it. But He used that moment to focus my energies and my thoughts not on what I was going to do but what He was going to let me have a part in. You see God is the one doing these things. In my set of parenthesis He drew back the curtain for a moment and revealed His great love, His amazing grace and His tender care for His children wherever they are found in this world. My part was simply to encourage and exhort the fellow laborers whose paths intersected mine briefly. We shared heartaches, joys, stories and meals together. We had sweet fellowship in the name of our Lord. What a wonderful set of parenthesis He wrote into my life. What a wonderful gracious God we serve. I encourage you to take some time, let God add a parenthesis to your story. Are you busy doing what you can?…or are you letting God reveal Himself to you in the every day encounters that are making up the lines of your story?

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