Little Things Matter

There’s nothing like a 24-hour plane trip (from liftoff in Nashville to final touchdown in Cape Town) to help you appreciate little things you normally take for granted, and notice things you might otherwise miss.

Like sleep, for example. I was able to lie down horizontally this evening for the first time in about a day and a half, for a quick nap before dinner. It was glorious. I’ve never slept long or well on a plane, and a long trip usually turns a regular sleep pattern (if I had one) into intermittent dozing, and makes “awake” a relative term at best.

Another thing I miss on a trip like this is the sense of control over my own schedule; being a single person with no kids I have quite a lot of that, usually. But being subject to the schedule of the airlines and then the team encourages the team member to regress to early childhood: “Where do I sit? When do we leave? When do we eat? May I have a drink? I’m done with my dinner now. May I go to the restroom? How do you flush this thing? How come I can’t hear this movie? Why is that man wearing THAT? Are we there yet?” If becoming like a child is key to entering the kingdom of heaven (and we have it on good authority that it is), then travel can definitely benefit one’s spiritual life.

In reality, this trip is pretty low on the “suffering and sacrifice” scale when you look at the whole spectrum of what missionaries have gone through—and continue to go through—for the sake of the Gospel around the world. Financial hardship, isolation, threat of death (even at the hands of those being ministered to), disease…and let’s not even mention the travel conditions; it wasn’t exactly on a luxury liner that took Lottie Moon to China, and it took a lot more than 24 hours.

Yet everyone on this team has had to give something up to be here (some more than others, and most more than me); time with loved ones, time at work, opportunities to do other things that are good in themselves. Yet I seriously doubt anyone would trade what we will experience for anything in the world. A trip like this is a great “wake up call” to my soul, bringing my focus back to who I am in Christ and who He is, and what’s really important. It’s hard to do a complete “cost/benefit” analysis, because so many of both are known only to God. But I am convinced that the results, short-term and long-term, for everyone involved, directly or indirectly, are worth the cost, because He is worthy.