Walk It Out

I used to have an iPhone.


And, when I had an iPhone, I would sometimes scare myself at how much information I could access at one time … and on a touch-screen for that matter!

It’s only been six months, but it’s strange to me to think about unlimited, high-speed internet access all the time, anywhere you go. I could find the nearest coffee shop, read the reviews, get directions and call for business hours within seconds… while driving… on that hand-held piece of goodness.

It has always been normal to be in high-speed, hyper-productive mode. I got even better at it when I started drinking coffee!

But now it’s time for a new normal.

I’m used to running; and now it’s time to walk… alongside the community-members here, a group of God’s chosen and dearly loved children, appointed to bear fruit that will last.

The new normal comes with a lot of waiting, being still, a new mind frame and vocabulary regarding time and place, and taking time to go beyond language barriers and culture clashes to build relationships.

Sometimes I feel like I spend all my time talking in circles or walking too slow. (It’s safe to say I haven’t “mastered” this new normal quite yet.)

Then a child runs up that I haven’t seen in months, calling my name and asking me what day my church will come. Or I receive a real, genuine hug and a handful of avocados. Or God sends a team here that renews the heart, the vision and Home in me.

Just when I start to get tired of the “scenic route” and I get ready to run as fast as I can, Jesus moves in that subtle, loving way He has and reminds me that this isn’t a race.

This orphan crisis, or any of the other injustices or pain we deal with daily, is not a “project” to be completed by a certain person.

I have a feeling that this new normal I’m dipping my toes in will involve a big, fat perspective check. I’m learning (at an even slower pace than I’m walking) that we are to live like a family, not like super-heroes trying to “fix” it all before the detonator goes off.

We can each only do our part to make the earth look a little more like the Kingdom.

My new normal includes learning to celebrate that the part of the Kingdom I get to walk in is colorful, runs on relationships first, and is right in-step with Jesus walking beside me.