Perspectives

A journal reflection from my friend Mikkee



"Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could."
Mark 14:6-8

This past month has gone by in a whirl: wrapping up the Ireland trip, preparing for Peru and Vacation Bible School. We hosted an Art Benefit, 2 lunches and said goodbye to a dear friend and new missionary apprentice to Ireland. It all seemed to culminate this past Friday on the day of the Art Benefit. I woke up at 4 am with my mind racing. An hour later, I was driving out to a friend's house to care for her 3 animals. I took the 2 dogs for a walk, and right before we made it home, 1 of the dogs somehow managed to escape her collar. For the ensuing 10 minutes my heart didn't beat, until my flying tackle had me securely reclamping the collar. Then, as I was driving back into town, swerving to not be hit, my tire hit a pot hole, bending the rim, losing a hubcap, and going flat...Later, as my car was being fixed, my assistant and I had purchased food and as we approached the car, she said, "where are my keys?" I sat in the parking lot with all of our food for 20 minutes while she searched for her keys, chuckling at the ways that God took to remind me that no matter what happens, he cares and is working in all the little things and unplanned details.

On a grander scale, do you ever watch the news and feel crushed amid the overwhelming burden of the neediness of our word? I see suffering in Myanmar, I hear of a primary school bombed in Darfur, and I feel overwhelmed.

I hear and see on a daily basis people and ministries who need support, people who are doing good works, and nothing I do seems like enough! I have limited resources in the midst of a broken world, where people are starving for food and for the HOPE we have in Jesus. However, it is very easy for me to swing on a pendulum of callous to the needs to crying over the needs. It is a continued journey in learning to rest and to trust in who Jesus is. Simply, HE IS. As people are hurting around me, I need to respond knowing that change happens 1 person at a time, I must do what he has given me to do, with all that I have and to do it out of an overflow of what he has done for me. When I am overwhelmed, I need to go back and REST my sadness in the one who holds the world in his hands. Sometimes needing to be forced to sit in a parking lot to remember that HE IS.