I love stories. I love sharing them and writing them, but more than that I love listening to them. A good story takes its audience on a journey, with the setting, the emotion, and the characters, it transports the listener into another world. An even better story, however, leaves the listener with something to learn from it. This is the reason Jesus often spoke in parables, they’re usually simple and easy to understand, and the characters are memorable so we always remember the story and the lesson that goes with it (the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the lost sheep, just to name a few). In a similar way my goal with this these blog posts is to share interesting (or not so interesting) stories, from my own journey as a missionary, and personal life that can serve as reminders of who God is and how marvelously He is working.
Awkward moments are the worst. Silence, uneasiness, and tension so thick you could cut it, all add up to an uncomfortable situation. This was the setting of birthday dinner I recently attended. What began as a small gathering of close friends, soon became a night filled with unease when a friend whom we don’t know too well decided to join us for dinner uninvited. The friend was unaware of the context that this was a small group gathering and just decided to tag along because they heard we were grabbing dinner. Now exclusivity is never a good idea, especially in a social situation, so naturally, we didn’t want to turn them down. This meant, however, was trying to include our spontaneous guest in the conversation, which was a challenge because they didn’t even know the host! As we struggled to make small talk and find common interests it became clear that this was going to a long dinner, so we just decided to embrace the awkward, and make the most of it. Finally, in spite of a night filled with side glances, silent moments, and awkwardness, it ended up being pretty enjoyable and even more so served as a reminder that sometimes we’re called to be uncomfortable. Awkward and uncomfortable situations will always be a part of our lives, but it these moments that often shape us. In choosing to embrace the weird, and unnatural we are able to grow, to learn, and to open ourselves to trust the Lord. Trust isn’t always about the big situations in our lives, but also the smalls ones, the day to day, from handing in assignments, getting to work on time, or knowing that a birthday dinner will turn out just fine. It’s not always easy to be able to surrender everything to the Lord, but I pray through trusting him in these small moments I can learn to trust him in the big ones. Anyways that’s all for now.
Keegan