Encouragement has been coming in from unexpected places as of late. Here is an email I received by someone I have met but a few times. Still, her words spoke truth into my life. I thank God that he still speaks through people. I thank God that we are not alone. I thank God that when I have cried out from the depths of me, he has responded. Thank you.
Here is the email:
Ryan,
Reading your posts over the last couple of days made me think a lot about where I was a couple of years ago struggling with living in Orange County but knowing I must be here for a reason and about ome questions I asked Jason Evans about a quote he had on his blog. I was able to find the exchange (posted below)…I’m not sure why your situation made me thing about this specifically but I felt that, even though it is out of character for me to do so, I should send it your way. I think it is easy to believe that if the lives we are living are more comfortable (financially, materially, emotionally) than others, more mainstream than we like that we are not doing the great work of God. I listened to your story in the forum at EC, have read your blog since then, and been inspired by the relational tithe work you and the people around you are doing. You are doing the great work of God. He clearly uses you and Holly. Sometimes the real sacrifice is being willing to give up what we believe is the more noble, global tasks, to be everyday believers of Jesus right where we are planted.
It was interesting to me that a lot to the things in your mission statements seemed to speak directly to being planted where you are (specifically this:
Things I can do in life to bring goodness/positivity into my life:
Social: Get involved in a larger friend network.
Mental: Read more books. Read better books.
Physical: Hike more often. Run some mornings.
Spiritual: Visit the monastery again with Holly
I am sorry if this is completely out of line seeing as we are virtual strangers, but I felt I had to go where the spirit was leading. I pray that you will feel peace with where you are at no matter where you are and especially that you will see clearly that you are a valuable instrument of God that He uses often and brilliantly.
"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings."
- Helen Keller
My friend wrote this in response to the H. Keller quote:
I read the quote on your site from Helen Keller and it made me think. Are we apathetic if we stop for pockets of time to take care of things closer to home or has God made us strong enough to accomplish both and we in our feebleness just don't see how? Or is it that our life of service is a composite of everything we do and therefore what may appear to be apathy to others is really just a momentary shift in priorities. Are some meant to serve the masses while others are meant to serve specific people for specific times?
Jason responds:
Good questions... I recently read The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert E. Coleman (a really good book, by the way). It confirmed some things I've been thinking and that is I'm pretty convinced that if we don't focus on the "specific people" at specific times" we'll miss the greatest opportunities and if our faith journey doesn't become a "composite of everything we do" we may very well miss the whole point.
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