So I haven’t written a blog about discipleship for a very long time. I haven’t been sure about what to write. But once again, I have a clear thought.

Our lives here in China, aren’t easy. Nothing goes according to plan… NOTHING. One minute things are working and the next you are in tears because it doesn’t. I’ve written about this before about China. The thing is, when you are in a completely foreign culture, where you are unable to fully communicate yourself with the majority of people, you start to seek the familiar. You need the comfort of something known.

This often takes the shape of movies and music for me. Constantly in my classroom I am playing familiar English music. We just acquired a number of Western movies to watch when we come home and need to feel human again. Most Saturdays, we seek out Starbucks. Its familiar and feels like we could be sitting in Colorado.

The metaphor here is that this is what our lives should feel like most of the time as Christians. Unfamiliar. On one plane, we do not live here. This is not our home.  Things are not always communicated clearly and misunderstanding is inevitable. Not that you don’t try. The world begs to interact with Jesus and your life is the message. But we do seek comfort. And our God is good.

He longs to comfort us in our world. He sees that we are isolated or uncomfortable or needing love and he wants to give that to us. So he gives us a song, or a Big Mac. And thats okay.

This week, may the comfort of God go with you into the world that is not our home. May he give you peace in a place of discomfort.