Thank you to all our dedicated readers! We’re so blessed by the support we are receiving. Today we’re going to have our first guest post. Our mutual friend just returned from a mission trip to Asia. To protect future trips, he will remain anonymous on this blog post. We hope you enjoy his post as much as we do.
~Stephanie & Emily
Upon returning from my mission trip to Asia, my mind and heart have been overwhelmed with countless memories of conversations and interactions I had with the people there. There has however, been one memory in particular that really stands out to me to this day. It was on a Monday when a team member and I had the opportunity to meet a new student over lunch in the cafeteria. So we strolled through the building searching for two available seats and to our surprise, came across a table occupied by only one single young man. Once we approached him, we asked if he would mind if we sat with him, and he accepted. About 30 minutes into our conversation amongst the three of us, we had thoroughly introduced ourselves, given some background information about what we study and enjoy doing, and some other similar icebreaker topics. Eventually, we moved toward deeper subjects in our conversation and began talking about religion and our positions on faith and beliefs. The three of us exchanged thoughts of what we believed to be the true values of life. Once my team member and I shared our stance on the faith, we asked to learn more about what our new friend sought as the reason and meaning of life. As he progressed in explaining how he felt about the possibility of the existence of a god, he made mention that there was a significant event in his lifetime that changed his perspective toward his beliefs. Prior to this event he explained, he had no reason to believe that there was even the minutest chance that there was “a god.”
~Stephanie & Emily
Upon returning from my mission trip to Asia, my mind and heart have been overwhelmed with countless memories of conversations and interactions I had with the people there. There has however, been one memory in particular that really stands out to me to this day. It was on a Monday when a team member and I had the opportunity to meet a new student over lunch in the cafeteria. So we strolled through the building searching for two available seats and to our surprise, came across a table occupied by only one single young man. Once we approached him, we asked if he would mind if we sat with him, and he accepted. About 30 minutes into our conversation amongst the three of us, we had thoroughly introduced ourselves, given some background information about what we study and enjoy doing, and some other similar icebreaker topics. Eventually, we moved toward deeper subjects in our conversation and began talking about religion and our positions on faith and beliefs. The three of us exchanged thoughts of what we believed to be the true values of life. Once my team member and I shared our stance on the faith, we asked to learn more about what our new friend sought as the reason and meaning of life. As he progressed in explaining how he felt about the possibility of the existence of a god, he made mention that there was a significant event in his lifetime that changed his perspective toward his beliefs. Prior to this event he explained, he had no reason to believe that there was even the minutest chance that there was “a god.”
He began by explaining that he was on a hiking trip with a few friends to reach the top of a mountain. The height of the mountain was so great that it took eight hours to reach the pinnacle of it. Fatigued and battered, they eventually reached its peak. As if the backbreaking hike wasn’t long and strenuous enough, once at the top, the visibility was so poor that they couldn’t see anything. The mountain reached such heights that it was in the middle of a blanket of clouds and fog, and so it greatly disappointed them. Our friend said that being as tired and discouraged as he was, he decided to go to sleep. When he awoke, he lifted his head to the most spectacular sight he had ever seen. He looked around and suddenly found himself above the entire cloud cover, above all other things as far as the eye could see. It was beauty beyond the eye’s comprehension, which he described as “sailing on a sea of clouds.” It was at this time when he felt a holy presence fall over him; one that relieved him of his anxieties and told him that all his hard work in life had paid off to that point.
In response to hearing this, in my amazement, I told him that I felt this epiphany of a marvelous presence was God trying to speak to him in a very unique way. The stumbling up the mountain was used to humble him before God, and show him that at the end, the grace and beauty of God truly overshadows all issues and aspects of life. This account is something I cannot help but to see through a lens of allegory in relation to reality. His eight-hour hike up the mountain was long, tiring and unrewarding once he reached the top; but by incredible circumstance, he awoke to beauty and a sense that his hardships had been worth it in the long run. As a Christian I have always replayed this story in my mind and seen so much similarity between the physicality of his adventurous story, and the spirituality of an entire lifespan of an individual that either seeks after Christ—or even an individual that does not, but God chooses to reveal himself to them. Life is difficult, tiring and overwhelming. It sometimes poses the question of “Is it worth it?” but when applying our lives to find it’s ultimate purpose in God’s plan, our lives as well as the end of our road miraculously becomes all the more fruitful. However, despite his encounter, my dear friend that experienced this is still struggling to understand the foreshadowing of God’s abundance and love through these events. He now knows the possibility of God, but has chosen not to seek after it. I later understood that he was not open to hearing or speaking anything further in regards to God. So we carried on a regular conversation after that point.
I think the moral of the story in this is to take heed in God’s direction in your life. Uphold all circumstances as ways to further his glory. Isaiah 65:1 says “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said ‘here am I, here am I.’” The very events that we presume to be coincidental or accidental in our lifetime are completely intentional by God’s grace that our eyes may be opened with a better understanding of his sovereignty. Often we avoid or invalidate what God places before us as insignificant rocks in the road; but if we are to truly seek God, we should persevere and see him through all aspects of life, not just the mission field.
In response to hearing this, in my amazement, I told him that I felt this epiphany of a marvelous presence was God trying to speak to him in a very unique way. The stumbling up the mountain was used to humble him before God, and show him that at the end, the grace and beauty of God truly overshadows all issues and aspects of life. This account is something I cannot help but to see through a lens of allegory in relation to reality. His eight-hour hike up the mountain was long, tiring and unrewarding once he reached the top; but by incredible circumstance, he awoke to beauty and a sense that his hardships had been worth it in the long run. As a Christian I have always replayed this story in my mind and seen so much similarity between the physicality of his adventurous story, and the spirituality of an entire lifespan of an individual that either seeks after Christ—or even an individual that does not, but God chooses to reveal himself to them. Life is difficult, tiring and overwhelming. It sometimes poses the question of “Is it worth it?” but when applying our lives to find it’s ultimate purpose in God’s plan, our lives as well as the end of our road miraculously becomes all the more fruitful. However, despite his encounter, my dear friend that experienced this is still struggling to understand the foreshadowing of God’s abundance and love through these events. He now knows the possibility of God, but has chosen not to seek after it. I later understood that he was not open to hearing or speaking anything further in regards to God. So we carried on a regular conversation after that point.
I think the moral of the story in this is to take heed in God’s direction in your life. Uphold all circumstances as ways to further his glory. Isaiah 65:1 says “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said ‘here am I, here am I.’” The very events that we presume to be coincidental or accidental in our lifetime are completely intentional by God’s grace that our eyes may be opened with a better understanding of his sovereignty. Often we avoid or invalidate what God places before us as insignificant rocks in the road; but if we are to truly seek God, we should persevere and see him through all aspects of life, not just the mission field.