I'm a Millennial. I was born in 1993. I have always had a microwave. I took computer classes at school starting in second grade. I have never known the pain of having to get in the car, drive to the library, use the card catalogue to find an encyclopedia to look up the answer to a question. I could simply ask Jeeves. I mostly went to the library for fun- to pick out summer reading books, and to check out CDs of Broadway soundtracks.
I only had to endure the pain of rewinding a VHS tape for a few years before having the luxury of scene selection with DVDs.
I got my first MP3 player in middle school. I could choose whatever song I wanted from a list of 100 or more at the touch of a button. I never knew what it was like to call a radio station and request a song.
I had a cell phone in high school and by my sophomore year of college I had a smart phone. I remember being so excited that I could look up recipe ingredients while standing in the grocery store if I had forgotten to write them down.
What I'm getting at... is that I'm not very good at waiting.
And as I've gotten older and technology has gotten more advanced, the demand for instant everything has exploded.
One of the biggest things I remember from my first mission trip to Africa was how different the sense of time was there. I don't mean that time passed any faster or any slower in that part of the world than at home. What I mean is that generally, people valued time in a different way than what I was accustomed to.
Time schedules were more of suggestions. VBS starts at 9:00am really meant, people will try to get there by 9am, but we might dance for an hour until we are ready to start!
Fellowship with friends and family was more important than agendas or deadlines. No one was rushing from one place to the next. People were present when they were together.
I'm trying to think about and remember this as I prepare for the next trip. I often want to move ahead to the next thing, the next experience, and check all the boxes off on my to do list. Right now we are waiting for more team members to join for this trip. I still haven't looked into my vaccinations yet. I have a lot of fundraising left to do. I was going to sleep the other night, wishing that I could have the "microwave version". That my trip was already fully funded, that my vaccines were squared away, and that all the spots on the team list were full with people signed up for the waiting list.
But from the years of life I've lived so far, and what I read in the Bible, I have learned that it is very seldom that God does something immediately, and much more likely that I will need to spend some time waiting, preparing, praying, and building faith by taking one step at a time ahead and leaning on God for the unknowns.
I also find it interesting that being a wealthy American means I have a lot. I have a smart phone, I have access to look up anything I want at any time, I can send my friend $5 for a coffee with the tap of a finger, and I can have a burger delivered to my door without getting off my couch. But often I lack patience. Often I am stressed out. Often I am distracted.
Would I be happier with less stuff? Is material wealth bad for spiritual and relational health? Who is to say? But these are just some of the thoughts I've been having as I think about this upcoming trip.
Give us each day our daily bread Lord. And teach me to be patient while I wait for it. Because to be honest, microwaved bread is terrible.
I only had to endure the pain of rewinding a VHS tape for a few years before having the luxury of scene selection with DVDs.
I got my first MP3 player in middle school. I could choose whatever song I wanted from a list of 100 or more at the touch of a button. I never knew what it was like to call a radio station and request a song.
I had a cell phone in high school and by my sophomore year of college I had a smart phone. I remember being so excited that I could look up recipe ingredients while standing in the grocery store if I had forgotten to write them down.
What I'm getting at... is that I'm not very good at waiting.
And as I've gotten older and technology has gotten more advanced, the demand for instant everything has exploded.
One of the biggest things I remember from my first mission trip to Africa was how different the sense of time was there. I don't mean that time passed any faster or any slower in that part of the world than at home. What I mean is that generally, people valued time in a different way than what I was accustomed to.
Time schedules were more of suggestions. VBS starts at 9:00am really meant, people will try to get there by 9am, but we might dance for an hour until we are ready to start!
Fellowship with friends and family was more important than agendas or deadlines. No one was rushing from one place to the next. People were present when they were together.
I'm trying to think about and remember this as I prepare for the next trip. I often want to move ahead to the next thing, the next experience, and check all the boxes off on my to do list. Right now we are waiting for more team members to join for this trip. I still haven't looked into my vaccinations yet. I have a lot of fundraising left to do. I was going to sleep the other night, wishing that I could have the "microwave version". That my trip was already fully funded, that my vaccines were squared away, and that all the spots on the team list were full with people signed up for the waiting list.
But from the years of life I've lived so far, and what I read in the Bible, I have learned that it is very seldom that God does something immediately, and much more likely that I will need to spend some time waiting, preparing, praying, and building faith by taking one step at a time ahead and leaning on God for the unknowns.
I also find it interesting that being a wealthy American means I have a lot. I have a smart phone, I have access to look up anything I want at any time, I can send my friend $5 for a coffee with the tap of a finger, and I can have a burger delivered to my door without getting off my couch. But often I lack patience. Often I am stressed out. Often I am distracted.
Would I be happier with less stuff? Is material wealth bad for spiritual and relational health? Who is to say? But these are just some of the thoughts I've been having as I think about this upcoming trip.
Give us each day our daily bread Lord. And teach me to be patient while I wait for it. Because to be honest, microwaved bread is terrible.