5 Things - A Thanksgiving Reflection

The morning I headed out of Canada on our trip to Myanmar, I was reminded through email of a remarkable passage in the Bible, from Psalm 139.

"My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be."

~Psalm 139: 15-16 (NIV - emphasis mine)

I am floored to think my days in Myanmar (all my days for that matter) were in God's 'book' before I first took breath.  All that I was to see and smell and learn and feel was no accident; His purpose and plan was behind it all.  In light of Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend what better time then to briefly reflect on some of the lessons (4 serious and 1 environmental) that I have learned in this season of life that the LORD ordained.  If you notice a theme through the first couple of lessons that is a good thing! (Hint: God is awesome.)

1. My view of God is too small.
2. My desire to pray is too weak!
3. The North American 'lifestyle' makes it far too easy for the Evil one to turn believers astray.
4. Our thanksgiving must grow.
5. Ontario humidity is nothing compared to the tropics.

My view of God is too small.

Proverbs 4:18 states, "The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter until the full light of day."  What an amazing illustration of God's children during our walk of faith.  As the LORD continues to work on us, sanctifying us in the life of faith - we begin to see him more clearly.  He shines into our lives with increasing brightness, exposing our faults and yet allowing us to clearly see Him and delight in Him.  It is almost as if my time in Myanmar caused that 'rising sun' to leap up in the sky more quickly than usual.  Why was that the case?

The faith of the believers in Myanmar helped me see God.  Through their service, singing, prayers and countenance it was easy to see that their lives were lived in the service of another Person.  The personal sacrifices they had made, whether travelling great distances to study theology, or deciding to take a smaller wage for the sake of spreading the gospel or learning two new languages to help train others in Christianity helped me to better grasp the absolute worth of following Christ.  God delights is taking humble means and building a church through people who truly believe that with God, nothing is impossible.  He shines all the more brightly through that humility.  Where does this confidence come from?

My desire to pray is too weak

This is the third time I have mentioned the prayer times we shared in Myanmar.  It really was that impactful.  How often have I forgotten the absolute necessity and treasure of prayer?

The believers in Myanmar know where their strength comes from; it is not their own but the Holy Spirit of God who works through them.  From praying with these believers, my awe of God's magnitude and mercy increased.  I was changed in recognizing the amazing grace that it is to have God dwell inside you, guide you and lead you back to Himself.  Those times of prayer were sweet communion and increased my desire to spend more time with him.  It is true when Christ said that the water he provides will cause us to never thirst again and causes a spring to well up inside us! (John 4:14)  However....

The North American 'lifestyle' makes it far too easy for the Evil one to turn believers astray.

No one ever tells you about 'reverse' culture shock.  A remarkable thing occurred while working with Engineering Ministries International during our week in Myanmar.  I found myself less distracted with temptation and altogether more focused on God while completing our technical work.  Now while some of that can be attributed to the fellowship we shared, I strongly believe the lack of distractions from entertainment and the internet also contributed to this strong communion.

Only a week and a half into re-entering North America and I was taken by our focus on entertainment and other worldly pleasures (and salt content in food for that matter).  With the multitude of technologies at our disposal and utter ease of access to worldly content in North America, no wonder our churches are struggling.  We are so easily wooed by these things (I am very guilty of this as well) and without God's help and cries for discipline in our lives, it is so easy for us to be carried off the path God is leading us on.

All this to say is that spending time in Myanmar has shown me more clearly than ever the dangers of what we allow ourselves to observe and the ease in which we can let our spiritual armor 'down' in our faced-paced, entertainment driven world.  It make this verse in Philippians all that more poignant.  "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things" Phil 4:8  I pray that the church in North America would recognize the subtly of the poison that we are exposed to daily and turn in repentance to God who is altogether praiseworthy, pure, right, and excellent.

Our Thanksgiving must grow

As our lives as believers are increasingly enlightened, what is there left but to offer thanks?  One of the words of scripture that has been popping out to me recently is 'thanks'.  In the Psalms alone that word is used 27 times.

"I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." Psalm 9:1

There is so much for us to be thankful for, from our new life in Christ, to the people he surrounds us with to grow us up in him to the bounty set before us daily from His hand.  The Burmese people had a rich spirit of gratitude despite their challenging circumstances.  Shall we forget the countless good gifts that have been showered on us daily?

Ontario humidity is nothing compared to the tropics

Enough said.  I am thankful that God has given humans sweat glands.  It was amazing to enter an air-conditioned hotel room at the end of our week in Myanmar but we had to set the temp 'up' to 26 - the change was that stark!

Housekeeping

Some quick 'announcements' as I bring this to a close.  First of all, updates for prayer items.  Please pray for:

• the eMi team as we continue to work on our drawing set and report over the next two months.  My time with eMi will be focused on this work, please pray that we meet our deadlines and that our hands work skilfully to complete this work for the ministry,
• continued contentment for me as I settle into Calgary (and the winter to come!)
• thanksgiving for having two thanksgiving dinners to go to this weekend (thanks to the Kerns and Youngs!),
• lastly, I was asked to consider coming on for another term with eMi - please pray that I would have a clear sense of where God intends me to be, whether eMi or 'other' (read - job)

I intend to update here on our progress when necessary (and potentially show a summary video of our trip!) but until then thank you for reading these reflections and for the prayer and support you have poured into this work.  It has been stunning to see God at work so evidently - rising ever so steadily and lighting up our lives day by day.

In Christ,

Ben

***Editor's Note:  Due to demand I will be trying to put an update online bi-weekly, either concerning work updates at eMi or other lessons learned about our matchless Saviour.***