Right Song, Wrong Side

Many years ago, I heard an amazing sermon by this very title~"Right Song, Wrong Side". In essence, it was the story of the Israelites who faced the Red Sea as the Egyptians pursued them (Exodus 14-15). They complained bitterly to Moses that it "would have been better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert"! But Moses told them to stand firm and they would see the deliverance of the Lord! And they did~the sea parted and they crossed on dry land. On the other side, they sang songs of praise and thanked God for his deliverance. Right song~wrong side!

When we are facing barriers in our lives, that is the time to praise and thank God for his deliverance; that is an act of faith.

When our team arrived in Johannesburg, we were 15 minutes late and missed our plane to Mozambique; we had to remain in Johannesburg for two days. We were flexible and sought the Divine Appointments God had for us in South Africa. However, when we got to the airport on Wednesday, we were told that we had no tickets to Mozambique! It was one of those moments, one of those special moments, when how we responded would determine the rest of our journey spiritually.

As we huddled in a circle, seeking God's direction, I was reminded of this sermon I had heard so many years ago and shared it with the team. "So let's start praising God"! And that is what we did~we stood there in the Johannesburg airport without tickets into Mozambique and praised God for what he was doing and what he was going to do! Needless to say, we got tickets to Mozambique, and we continued our journey seeking to do God's will every step of the way. It was a trip filled with obstacles and barriers, and we had many opportunities to respond in faith through praise and prayer. I am grateful for that pastor long ago who shared this interesting perspective he called "Right Song, Wrong Side", and am grateful to God that he is faithful in all circumstances.

Back to Bethel!

Matthew 28:19 tells us to go into the world and make disciples, and that is the Scripture that drives the vision of the work in Mozambique that calls me back to Bethel once again. This lovely little place is where my missionary journey began; where God touched my heart and changed it in ways that altered the focus of my vision in remarkable ways. Nothing looks the same.

Last night, I came home after Portuguese class and, as I walked to the house from the garage, I happened to look up. The stars glittered in the sky as only they can on a crisp fall night, and I was taken back in my memory to the stars of the southern hemisphere as I stood still in Bethel for as long as possible to drink in the night sky and the unfamiliar constellations. It' s the ordinary things that I see differently today. While in Mozambique, I noticed that we snapped pictures of flowers, clouds, beaches, boats, birds, each other~ ordinary things that didn't seem ordinary because we were in Africa. When I came home, I began to look at the beauty of the ordinary things around me as if I had a new sense of sight, and that has not faded in two years. I confess, I was a bit that way before I traveled to Mozambique, but something has shifted in me and I experience a heightened sense of beauty in the ordinary.

Perhaps that is what it means to have the "eyes of God". Perhaps when we can look at ordinary things and see extraordinary beauty and value, we are seeing the world as God sees it. I once heard it said that saints were just ordinary people used by God in extraordinary ways~I believe that is true. If we truly allow God to use us in any way he chooses, we will live extraordinary lives, to be sure.