A Jealous God

Saturday, August 14, 2010

6:27 pm

            This weekend, we've been taking a couple Adventist Mission directors to church plants. As we were scurrying this morning to get our gear together to meet up with them, I ran inside my office to grab a hard drive when I saw that a portion of a ceiling tile had collapsed. I looked at the dirt and wood covering everything on my desk (including my laptop). To my relief, everything was dry and nothing was damaged. I only had time to move my laptop, before I had to run back out the door to get in the car.

            We continued with our schedule and got to visit a couple other church plants. After lunch, we got to stop by a Buddhist temple. It was absolutely beautiful! It actually wasn't a building. Instead, it was a serene garden that felt like a small secret forest hidden in the city. In the center was a 20-foot waterfall! It was so incredibly peaceful, I felt embarrassed that we noisy Americans were intruding. I think that we as Christians, who have the secret to true peace, could learn a thing or two from the Buddhists.

            After supper, I returned to my office to clean up the mess and make sure everything was okay. For some reason, I kept thinking about the part of the second commandment where God says that He is a jealous God. I thought about it for a while and realized I had skipped my devotional time yesterday. I don't think God was punishing me and had the ceiling collapse on my computer because I had skipped my devotions. In fact, on the contrary, I think He saved my computer to point something out to me. He is watching out for me here in Bangkok. I've given the next nine months to His service, but I owe Him the time that is His daily. Everyday I see Him revealed in some way and I know that He wants to speak to me. The very least I can do is listen.

The rectangular shape in front of the chair is where my laptop was