Ordinary Lives

The past two and a half years have been both rich in blessings and full of difficulty. The difficulty was not simply because I went through 4 months of chemotherapy for multiple myeloma (an ‘incurable’ blood cancer), then discovered I had a cancerous tumor in my colon that required surgery, and once I recovered from that, embarked on another 6 months of weekly chemo (all while working full time). The medical side of things, although it had its challenges, really wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Here’s what made it hard: I’ve been doing some kind of public ministry most of my adult life – preaching, teaching, leading worship, etc. I’m an extrovert who loves being out and about. And this is a hateful thing to confess, but I used to like being in the limelight. Even though I know my true worth comes from my relationship with Jesus and the fact that I am loved by God, the approval and appreciation of people is powerfully addictive. Maybe it’s too early to say, but that addiction may have lost its grip, because for the past two years or more, I‘ve been mostly tucked away in a cubicle with precious few opportunities for public speaking (except for a few small presentations in work meetings) or even the opportunity to be part of a worship band at a church. And then of course, covid restrictions…

The cube life – that mundane, ordinary side of things – was going to be OK, because the other half of my job was supposed to be traveling in Central Africa, coaching volunteer leaders and their teams. (Translation: travel adventures and amazing stories of God-encounters). But from March 2020 until June 2021, there was no travel. I’m truly thankful for my job/ministry with Samaritan’s Purse; I also have the best coworkers who make working in an office environment fun. But in December 2020 when I started a new course of chemo, the oncologist insisted I start working from home, since cancer, chemo and covid don’t make a good combo. So my world shrank from traveling internationally, to a 2.5 mile trip to the office, and then it shrank again and became a trip down a flight of stairs to my home office. I felt like I’d been put in time out, put on a shelf and ignored. I didn’t like it much. Eventually I was able to return to the office, and for a brief period in June/July 2021 in between covid surges, I was released to start traveling again (thank you Jesus!). I spent several weeks in Chad, Central Africa, followed by a few days in Cameroon.

The main purpose of this trip was to recruit, interview and select new volunteers to fill holes in existing Operation Christmas Child teams. I love people, I love hearing people’s stories, observing and appreciating the uniqueness of each personality. It’s fascinating and even awe-inspiring! Working with two others, traveling mostly by bus from place to place, we completed well over 60 interviews in two weeks. God spoke to me so much through these individuals, many of whom had never filled out an application form in their lives and were not comfortable talking about themselves. More than ever, my conviction has been confirmed that the Lord is actively at work in our world, doing amazing things on a regular basis through ordinary, unknown people who love Jesus – people who are not now nor ever will be in the limelight. They are faithfully living out their ordinary lives and fighting the good fight of faith in places I never knew existed until recently – places in which Christianity has nothing to do with multi-million dollar stadium events, expensive fashion trends and Christian subculture social media fame.

I’m thinking of one particular gentleman who applied for a “logistics coordinator” position. On his application, next to “Profession”, he had written in French: “Cultivateur.” Farmer. His answers to other questions on the application were short and simple (euphemism for unimpressive). He entered the room with a demeanor that spoke of unpracticed, genuine humility, which reminded me of my grandfather who was also a farmer. Just an ordinary man without pretention. So we began the interview and probed a bit with questions, to know more about this man’s work experience, as well as his volunteer experience in the church world. As he gradually opened up, we found out that he was not simply a farmer, but had been trained in environmental management and had held a local government post in environmental protection. He had also created youth clubs in order to mentor young people in good environmental and farming practices, sharing the Gospel with them at the same time! He had planted two churches and was still actively engaged in this work in his retirement. “I had a hard childhood and so I love helping young people.” He quietly related all this like it was no big deal. Here was the simple overflow of a humble man’s love for the Lord. His life was speaking to me loud and clear, coming, as I do, from the social media-saturated, celebrity-driven culture that is America. I wanted to hug him and hand him a trophy! Here was someone who deserved recognition. But one day he’ll have something far more glorious and permanent than human applause; he will hear those eternal words of approval: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master!”

As for me, I’m still learning how to be ‘ordinary’, how to be content in faithfully doing what is in front of me each day, whether I’m hidden away in an office cubicle or sweating on a bus somewhere in Africa. The impact of a life lived in Christ cannot be measured by the number of follows or likes on social media, nor by how well-known or little-known one may be. In Matthew 13:31-33, Jesus compared God’s Kingdom to some very small and ordinary things: a mustard seed, and yeast. He said, “this is what the Kingdom is like: a mustard seed that a man planted in his garden. Then it grows far out of proportion to its original size and becomes a tree, and the birds come and nest in its branches. It’s like a bit of yeast that a woman mixed into the bread dough. Eventually the whole lump doubles in size and the influence of the yeast becomes obvious.”

People in Jesus’ day may have been shocked or offended that He would dare to compare God’s glorious Kingdom to things so common and unremarkable – everyday things. What? The Kingdom was supposed to come with a big flash and a bang, with a grand spectacle! Not much has changed since those days and everyone loves a spectacle, something big. A simple seed and yeast, however, are not exactly awe-inspiring things. But they are things with life in them, they are things that grow and multiply where they are placed, things that impact and even transform the environments in which they grow, with a slow, steady persistence. This is how God intends for His kingdom to come into the world through you and me and a humble farmer. This is how ‘ordinary’ wins the day.