November 2021 — Jennifer Thomas
a letter from Liz —
It’s time to get the holidays on! As I recall, Thanksgiving won’t be celebrated in any of our Asian countries, but Christmas is a huge time of year when the secular world dons its streets and shopping malls with Santa and Christmas trees.
During this season, I encourage you with this: Make memories with friends you are surrounded with. Bake a chicken, pitch in to buy a turkey, and make mashed potatoes. Share your lives with people who haven’t come to faith yet. One of my favorite memories of sharing Christ with a nonbeliever was around my dining room table making sugar cookies. It wasn’t long before I brought her to one of our local AG churches.
I know COVID has had a grip on our social lives, but as the holidays draw near, I pray God will allow you to open the doors of your home to people who have yet to know Christ! If you can’t do this due to lockdown situations, I pray He will give you ideas on how to reach out.
Yes, your home will get messy, and it may cost you something, but you will be welcoming people to a place where light shines brightly and hearts can be rendered to the Lord.
Blessings on your travels, holiday events, and ministry. Jeff and I will be doing ministry in Indonesia until December 14, and then we will return to the States.
Never Alone,
Liz
from Jennifer Thomas — You Have a Ticket
Everyone uses acronyms these days. Texting has almost warranted its own language course for all the acronyms used to communicate. My favorite new one is FOMO. If you are not fluent in "acronymese," it translates "fear of missing out" and is growing more prevalent in our culture than ever before.
During a recent trip, I witnessed FOMO in raw form. I was once again astounded by the push and shove of plane-boarding: the long line of people waiting to board, the impatient toe-tapping, and the slight forward movements pushing the poor fellows in front like packed sardines. Next, they race to put their things in the overhead bin as quickly as possible to dodge the stampede barreling in from behind. What causes such a phenomenon? Are we afraid the plane will leave without us? Are we scared the airlines will suddenly realize their grave mistake of overselling tickets and that the only people to get a seat will be those stampeding on the flight fast enough, tripping a fellow passenger or two on the way?
Occasionally our family of five gets funny looks waiting in the terminal seats while others engage in the sardine-line phenomenon. Our kids are usually playing, and we are on our phones or reading a book. We find it entirely less stressful to allow the FOMO stampede to find their seats first, and then there's no inconvenience as we board last to situate our tiny humans. Amazingly, our seats are always there, empty and waiting for us. As other passengers seem to judge my lack of hurriedness, I can't help but think, Don't they know they have a ticket? Don’t they realize their seat has already been assigned?
On my latest journey, I felt the Holy Spirit whisper, "You have a ticket too." No, not my ticket to Guam, but a ticket to a place and purpose for me. Even as I was in my mother's womb, He crafted me ever so carefully and had a purpose for my life. God never intended for us to experience fear or worry over finding purpose. You see, those people cramming in and tripping over one another cannot race to win a different place. Their seat is the same whether they arrive first or last.
It is a daily (sometimes hourly if you have a bad case of FOMO) surrender to His purpose. When we realize that the same God who designed the human body with 100,000 miles of blood vessels, 86 billion neurons, and 100 billion nerve cells is the same God who has an intricate plan for our lives, we no longer have to fear losing our seat. FOMO leads to the flesh (pushing, shoving, manipulating, maneuvering). Trusting and surrendering to God's plans done His way leads to lasting fruit.
Today, whether we find ourselves displaced by COVID, entering a new season of itineration, adjusting in a new country, or returning to people we love, let's commit to surrendering our fear and acknowledging we have a ticket with an assigned seat from a Father who loves us more deeply and intimately than we could ever imagine. He can do more in our waiting than we could ever do in our hurrying to find our seat.
