Lauren, an AIM member who served on Clove Island and now serves in Brazil, asks the question "am I interruptible" like Jesus?
One evening, back when I was living on Clove Island, I set out by foot to my teammate’s house. As I approached the city’s main road, there was a sense of commotion and excitement in the air.
After a few familiar shop keepers reassured me that it was not a malicious crowd but instead excited soccer fans welcoming back their victorious team, I decided to continue onto my teammate’s house. I crossed the main road and yet as soon as I started heading towards her house, a swell of excited fans surrounded me and I fought to hold my ground. I soon grew weary of getting pushed and shoved and quickly turned around to go with them instead of fighting against them. As soon as I could sneak away from the crowd and down a side road, I happily took a much longer route to her house.
I think that experience sticks out in my mind because later that same week, our team studied the story of Jesus healing the bleeding woman and Jairus’s daughter in Mark 5. The story starts out with Jesus receiving a request from Jairus (a very important man) to heal his sick daughter. As Jesus went with Jairus, “a large crowd followed and pressed around him” (Mark 5:24). After my crowd experience, I could imagine Jesus being pushed and shoved as he headed off to help Jairus. But in the midst of the oppressive crowd, Jesus stops; He focuses on a woman who had bled for 12 years straight and yet was instantly healed by touching Jesus that day. It’s one of my favorite Bible stories because it’s just so absurd. Jesus was coming from important things and headed to important things and yet he stopped and talked with this nameless woman who was impure and seemingly unimportant. But Jesus saw her, talked to her, and honored her.
The question that rings through my mind every time I read this story is: “am I interruptible?” How many times do I miss those who God has purposefully put in my path simply because I have my thoughts and mind focused on the “next best thing”? Don’t get me wrong, Jesus truly had important things to do! And yet He, the Son of God, wasn’t inconvenienced by people. He drew near to them and never once appeared to be in a rush. I want to be like Jesus and not miss the people who God has purposefully placed around me.
Praise & Prayer
Praises and prayer requests from Lauren:
Praise: for the many people God has placed around me; that God continues to teach me through His Word; for the season of Advent of waiting for Jesus. Pray: that I will not be in a hurry but instead focus on the people God has placed around me; for God to continue opening doors for ministry and outreach in Brazil; that I would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and present wherever I am and whoever I am with.