Worlds Collide

Arriving in the states from the Agape Mission Team's trip to Uganda, every one's phone suddenly woke up and chiming sounds filled the air. Our lives came rushing back as one team member received 350 email notifications. I think of the moment the team prayed on the hill when the world faded away and Jesus rushed in.  As the phones continued to receive all the data, we got off the plane to notice how sterile the environment looked compared to what we had just left. Neatly dressed American business men and women rushed through the airport and I thought of the woman sitting on the sidewalk by the busy streets of Kampala in tattered clothing with her two babies sleeping beside her, one in a card board box and one on a piece of cloth that was laid on the cement. We hit the highway and my mind went back to the rutted out mud roads we covered through the villages of Uganda.

We pass school children getting out of school with parents lining the streets in their cars and I remember the many children roaming the streets and villages of Kampala, not able to go to school because it cost money they don't have. I think of Agape Home kids who are able to attend school because of help from sponsors. They count it a joy and privilege to put on their school uniforms to walk through a muddy path to be able to attend school where  the day begins at 7 and ends at 5. I call and make a doctor's appointment on the way home and I think of the baby who's head was covered in parasites. She lived with her siblings in a mud shack and her mom had found out that very week she had AIDS and she nor the baby had anyway to receive medical care.  

We drive past a church and I think of Sunday morning in Kampala where people rush to worship despite a waiting line because armed guards check cars, people and bags for explosives and weapons before they can enter the church campus. I think of Joseph, the director of Agape home who heard the Gospel from church planting missionaries from Singapore and was rescued and redeemed and now disciples and has rescued  children and I wonder if many in the American church understand the importance and eternal value of global missions and sharing the Good News. I hug my children and they hand me their welcome home letters and play their piano recital piece. I think of Whitney, the quiet girl who lost her family to AIDS, passionately and loudly leads worship of the living God.

My worlds collide.

The ache comes in the worlds colliding. Not that one world is preferred over the other but it is a longing for all worlds to be connected. A world where it is simply all Jesus. There is pure joy but also great ache in the day after an incredible revelation of Jesus.

What are those of us to do in the longing, the feelings of low in the space in between the there and here?  Between the that and the this.

How do you answer the questions or understand the passivity of the responses to having seen Heaven peel back? How do you navigate that with grace, seasoned with salt?

The answer is in, allowing the worlds to collide. You love with all your being wherever you are. You give more generously and more willingly. You open your eyes to see what Jesus sees. Whether its the needs of your sponsored child from Agape Home living among the deepest poverty or your very own baby. You love both with all your energies and efforts. Because as you love both with all your being, somehow, the worlds collide. Because the Spirit of the Lord is among those that love and give so generously. There is no variation in giving here or giving there....you are simply giving...and in turn receiving Jesus.

The "let down" sometimes felt after such an incredible experience is natural, normal. We were warned of them. However, they should only propel us harder and faster to the things of God and a desperate dependence on Him. Release of the ache found in the day after should come as we raise our hands in thanksgiving for each breath we take.  As we take notice  every little moment that  occupies our time. We can do all things in Christ and allow space for Him to invade our world in every moment of every day, wherever we are. Each moment has the potential to be the greatest moment we have ever seen Jesus.

It is in the going- Being sent to a place such as Uganda and doing something that more than exceeds my  knowledge or ability, Jesus' Spirit is very palpable. The Jesus I was able to encounter this week was more than I can put into a blog post...but it is also in the coming back. Jesus is just as much on display in the cards from my children and in their laughter and hugs.  The worlds collide as I hear about their week and I seek after their hearts and reach into their world so they will know Jesus more just as we sought after Joel's heart of Agape Home, that he would know that he is loved by us and Jesus.

The first world is harder to navigate to find a thick and uninterrupted display of Jesus, but He is  there AND here. We just need to lean in tighter and allow what happened there to motivate how we live here.

Allow the worlds to collide.

If you have had a transformational experience with Jesus, and if you know Him, you have, don't shrink back. Let it change you forever. Share by allowing it to change the way you live. Share how to become involved in those things where your passion lies and Jesus has broke your heart for. Share by pointing to the reason we live and why we live life the way we do...JESUS. Allow God to prove faithful as you walk in the path He has laid out for you. You were created by God and for God for His purpose.

Where the Spirt of the Lord is, there is freedom. The freedom felt in His presence should be in the there and the here. Don't ever let the flame of passion you felt to reach into others and draw out Jesus disappear...be it there are here.

Allow the worlds to collide.

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isa. 52:7