Today, I decided to spend some time in prayer and meditation...specifically for guidance in how to make the best use of a rather large sum of money donated to the missions committee for missions work. Obviously, we want to make the best use of it for the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus. To that end, several of us in our congregation decided to spend some time today in prayer and meditation.
I began by getting into my easy chair and put my feet up. I shut my eyes and began with prayers for not only the best use of the funds, but also for a couple of other issues regarding missions. One is how we can encourage the congregation to begin to think (and act) more missionally. The other is the decisions that Josh and Allyssa Myers, a young couple we have recently begun a relationship with on the committee level, will be making in the next weeks regarding their future as missionaries...domestic or foreign.
However, my mind quickly devolved into a kind of kaleidoscope of visions of various people...both those I know and those I don't know. And they all were people who I mostly did not know...and who were not part of our church fellowship. When these visions first began, my mind wanted to go back to the original reason why I was in prayer, but I couldn't do so, keeping these visions of people at the forefront.
So for a time I just rested in that world, taking in the people who quickly came and went into and out of the vision. When I sort of re-awakened, I wondered about the meaning of it all. It quickly came to my mind that perhaps the issue of how to spend the funds wasn't as important as I may have at first thought...that perhaps people...those I both know and don't know...take precedence. Maybe it is people I need to be concerned with...not money.
One other thing. Right before this time in meditation, I found out via social media that a couple our church had helped with groceries and utilities from time to time while they were living in Wichita, and had a few years ago moved to Arkansas...the wife today lost her life due to COVID. It was a rather sudden thing and unexpected for this woman who was no more than 50 years old. I had been maintaining contact with them by way of social media following their move, and continued to help them personally from time to time as they worked to keep themselves clean from drugs and make a life for themselves.
Robert and Nicole were fighters. They fell off the wagon once in a while, but were determined to get back on and go again. Although they were not to my knowledge members of any local church family, I believe they knew God and the saving grace of His Son Jesus Christ. I think they did the best they could with the hand that was dealt to them, and were able to get and stay clean through the power of God and the encouragement of others.
As I recalled their time in Wichita, I was reminded of some of the times we interacted with them. At the time, what we were doing for them didn't seem to be of much importance, at least to me. Some groceries from time to time. Once in a while some money on a utility bill. We did what we could as they struggled to remain free from addiction, and we remained with them during times when one or both would fall back into it.
There is a connection here, I believe, between the visions I had of various, mostly unknown people and my recollections of Robert and Nicole. Many of those recollections were the small (to us) things we did with and for them as they struggled through life here in Wichita.
Because of that interaction, Robert, Nicole and I personally have become joined in some way over time, and I am acutely feeling the pain of Robert as his world has fallen apart when she passed away today. They don't have, and never had any extra money. They were doing well to live day to day, and occasionally borrowed money from me through PayPal to get themselves through to the next check. They always paid it back and were grateful. Now, Robert has just asked on social media how he can raise funds to deal with funeral expenses. He's lost right now, and probably will be for some time.
So, where does all of this go? What's the takeaway from this? As of now, I'm not sure. But what I do see is that whatever we do with the donated funds; whatever we do in helping Josh and Allyssa; whatever we do in encouraging our congregational family to be more missions-minded; people need to be at the forefront. People we may not know. People who need the Lord. People who come and go into and out of our lives. Just like Robert and Nicole, some little thing we may do that may not mean much to us at the time...some minor interaction, something said or done...may well have life-long consequences that we may never see or know anything about. Robert and Nicole are examples of that.
One other thing. Our interaction with Robert and Nicole was part of our church benevolence ministry. This reminds me that benevolence indeed can be, and should be thought of as missions. By loving our neighbor we demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ. Not only that, but if we do benevolence correctly, we can foster human connection that sometimes persists throughout life.
I don't know where this is all going, and may never quite have a complete handle on that. However, we continue life in this world as God gives us breath. We foster relationship. We love our neighbor. We imitate Jesus Christ as best we can. We use the resources God has given us to work toward the renewal of the creation and look forward to that time when it will all be complete, whole and perfect again.
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