Sunday
Mar142010
Lessons While Only Visiting This Planet
Bernie Anderson
In twelve weeks, after four years in Mongolia, we’re going on home assignment to the US. That seems so incredibly strange to me. I just reviewed an electronic stack of photos and I cant believe how much has changed in this short time that we’ve been away. My kids have changed. Perspectives have changed. This website has changed. My computer preferences have changed. It’s a lot to review … and I might write up a blog on that soon.
However, I have to confess that I did not even begin considering our Home Assignment until sometime after the beginning of January. Things here have just been too busy to give it much thought. Finally, it struck me sometime after the beginning of the new year - we’re going to the States in less than six months and I have no idea where we’ll live, what we’ll drive, how we’ll wash our clothes or where we’ll store our food. It was a bit disconcerting, actually. I may not be the greatest “planning guy” on the planet, but I do at least like to have a road map so I know where we may be heading. We knew that we very much wanted to live near our old stomping grounds of Franklin, TN. So, my ever resourceful wife, looked up housing prices on the Internet. She shared them with me. We then shared a joint groan. There’s not any way we were going to receive enough in our Stateside housing allowance to even come close to being able to live where we wanted to. One bedroom apartments located in areas controlled by street gangs were still pushing the upper echelons of our price range. I was worried. I know better than to be worried. But that was the reality. Worry.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Mongolian Church that we attend each Saturday night. “Church” for us consists of a small group gathered at the student center for some simple worship songs and an inductive Bible study that is led by Onon and Zolo. I used to walk through preparation with them each week, but now my team mate Erik does that, so here lately I just go to listen and provide input later during our training class (that’s on Wednesday mornings). Since we had just returned from our vacation in Thailand, this particular week I showed up without even really knowing what passage we were covering. We sang and I listened to Onon and Zolo ask questions and begin explaining the meaning of Matthew 6:25-34. It was there that God spoke to me. “… do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “ … or life more than having a place to live? This word, as so accurately and keenly explained by my Mongolian friends convicted me of my sin and caused me to repent of it. I was so grateful to God for that gift … and I am even more grateful to God for the bearers of that gift. My friends Onon and Zolo had no idea that what they were saying had a serious affect on my thinking at that moment. God profoundly used them in my life. I think it is truly a good thing when the teacher is taught by the students. This means we begin to lose the whole “student/teacher” dichotomy and we begin to actually work together for the Kingdom of God. It’s not us/them, foreigner/National or Mongolian/Westerner. It’s us together - believers living for the glory and fame of Jesus. That’s the way it ought to be. I so appreciate my Mongolian friends and will miss them while we are reuniting with old friends and family from the US … whom I also miss. I am ever increasingly finding that this life is truly a life where we are really never home. And I am okay with that … because home shouldn’t be on this earth anyway. As one who is now really Home once said, “We’re only visiting this planet” anyway.
What’s the rest of the story? On that Monday we had a Skype call with some dear friends in Franklin who are offering to let us stay in their fully furnished three bedroom home in the heart of Franklin, TN for the entire year we will be Stateside for essentially the cost of our housing allotment. God’s Word is true … just like Onon and Zolo explained to the Mongolian church, and to me … the Father cares for birds and flowers, and His children.
However, I have to confess that I did not even begin considering our Home Assignment until sometime after the beginning of January. Things here have just been too busy to give it much thought. Finally, it struck me sometime after the beginning of the new year - we’re going to the States in less than six months and I have no idea where we’ll live, what we’ll drive, how we’ll wash our clothes or where we’ll store our food. It was a bit disconcerting, actually. I may not be the greatest “planning guy” on the planet, but I do at least like to have a road map so I know where we may be heading. We knew that we very much wanted to live near our old stomping grounds of Franklin, TN. So, my ever resourceful wife, looked up housing prices on the Internet. She shared them with me. We then shared a joint groan. There’s not any way we were going to receive enough in our Stateside housing allowance to even come close to being able to live where we wanted to. One bedroom apartments located in areas controlled by street gangs were still pushing the upper echelons of our price range. I was worried. I know better than to be worried. But that was the reality. Worry.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Mongolian Church that we attend each Saturday night. “Church” for us consists of a small group gathered at the student center for some simple worship songs and an inductive Bible study that is led by Onon and Zolo. I used to walk through preparation with them each week, but now my team mate Erik does that, so here lately I just go to listen and provide input later during our training class (that’s on Wednesday mornings). Since we had just returned from our vacation in Thailand, this particular week I showed up without even really knowing what passage we were covering. We sang and I listened to Onon and Zolo ask questions and begin explaining the meaning of Matthew 6:25-34. It was there that God spoke to me. “… do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “ … or life more than having a place to live? This word, as so accurately and keenly explained by my Mongolian friends convicted me of my sin and caused me to repent of it. I was so grateful to God for that gift … and I am even more grateful to God for the bearers of that gift. My friends Onon and Zolo had no idea that what they were saying had a serious affect on my thinking at that moment. God profoundly used them in my life. I think it is truly a good thing when the teacher is taught by the students. This means we begin to lose the whole “student/teacher” dichotomy and we begin to actually work together for the Kingdom of God. It’s not us/them, foreigner/National or Mongolian/Westerner. It’s us together - believers living for the glory and fame of Jesus. That’s the way it ought to be. I so appreciate my Mongolian friends and will miss them while we are reuniting with old friends and family from the US … whom I also miss. I am ever increasingly finding that this life is truly a life where we are really never home. And I am okay with that … because home shouldn’t be on this earth anyway. As one who is now really Home once said, “We’re only visiting this planet” anyway.
What’s the rest of the story? On that Monday we had a Skype call with some dear friends in Franklin who are offering to let us stay in their fully furnished three bedroom home in the heart of Franklin, TN for the entire year we will be Stateside for essentially the cost of our housing allotment. God’s Word is true … just like Onon and Zolo explained to the Mongolian church, and to me … the Father cares for birds and flowers, and His children.
Reader Comments (4)
Wha-hoo!!! Can't wait!
However, I'm not sure that I like to be referred to as your "old" friends in the states...speak for yourself, pops!
Hey Bernie! I hope to see you during your time back in the U.S.!
Rob
[...] 2010-03-21 15:53:37 Rob Goerzen Says:Hey Bernie! I hope to see you during you [...]
[...] 2010-03-21 15:53:37 Rob Goerzen Says:Hey Bernie! I hope to see you during you [...]