Watching and Being Watched

By Workers in Asia

Not Shaken

My last update was sent after I moved to my new home in Asia…before the financial meltdown. The main indicator of things being amiss in the financial markets is the difficulty the local people have in finding work. Surrounded by the pressures of negative income, many are shaken by the rising incidence of crime. Those who have money are glued to stock market reports. They hope to ride out the storm, but no one knows. The old stability is shaken.

Jesus’ words to His disciples, “Work while it is day; night is coming…” seem quite relevant here, even though He wasn’t referring to a worldwide economic collapse. We still have a window of opportunity as we wait for the full impact of seeds already sown. How long will it be? Another year? Two? No one knows, but the state of things worldwide is sparking new urgency into all that we do. How to stand with us?

• Ask God for sharp, clear minds as we tackle language puzzles.
• Ask for hope, courage, boldness to speak life-giving words to people no matter how risky it may appear.
• Ask for clarity, prudence and discretion—that we be wise with our resources, sharing what we can with others. (Last year the South Korean won dropped nearly 50 percent in value.)

We all need to move forward on our knees, letting the Lord be our Commander in Chief, whatever lies before us. The shaking will continue, but the nearer we are to Him the less we will be shaken up!

Look Who's Watching

“You don’t notice me, but I notice you,” said a man slightly older than myself as he sat down next to me. The last time I’d sat on this bed I’d been seeing a patient whom I’d known for nearly ten years who’d just had a stroke. I remembered being distracted by a dog constantly growling under the bed. I was glad the dog wasn’t here today. Sadly, my patient had died, and this was the day of her funeral. The gentleman sitting next to me turned out to be her brother-in-law. I couldn’t remember having seen him before. He turned and began talking to the half-dozen people crowding into the small room. He was talking about us and the other Christians in this town.

“They’re good people. They help out poor patients.”

The dead woman’s handicapped son was lying in another bed nearby. Over him was a wooden trapeze my sons had helped me build years before. Next to him was a tape player and piles of Christian music and sermons that a fellow doctor had given him.
“I see his daughter and her friend riding their bikes out there and they’re always real polite,” the brother-in-law continued.

I tried to deflect some of the compliments and turn the attention back to this woman who had fought to secure every provision possible for her handicapped son. What he’d been saying was typical cultural politeness, but I could tell it was also sincere. It got me thinking. Here’s this man I don’t even know, and he’s watching me. He knows I’m a Christian, and he’s coming to conclusions. In a way it’s quite encouraging that we can be the aroma of Christ to those around us. They may be saved without us ever knowing it. In another way, it is quite sobering. What about the times when I am impatient or irritable, trying to get my list of things done and don’t have the time of day for someone? Probably someone is watching that, too.

In my quiet time the following week, I made another discovery. I’d been anxious about finances, probably like many out there. I read Genesis 22 where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. At the end of this heart-rending story, Abraham calls this place “The Lord will Provide.” Wanting to write that truth on my heart, I looked up the Hebrew word, provide, and found that this word almost always means, “God sees.” God sees our need, He sees our obedience. And He will see to it that we are taken care of.

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