U-Turns & Turnarounds

“Life is a puzzlement,” said the King of Siam to Miss Anna in The King and I, one of my all-time favorite movies.  For as long as I have lived (and I have lived a good number of years, thanks to a kind and faithful God) countless things still puzzle me.

Three weeks ago, my husband and I made a big decision.  We had the opportunity to do mission work in the 9^th most beautiful city in the world, the Paris of middle Europe.  On the second day of our 16-day visit to this city, I cautioned myself not to fall in love with it. This turned out to be difficult.  The city was as gloriously enchanting as the travel magazines have pictured to us.  Then as we met with various people involved in ministry in this city, we were impressed with their commitment, intensity and passion for what they were doing. There was urgency about their business of sharing the gospel.  We cannot ask for better co-workers.  But our misgivings about our own effectiveness in the type of ministry we were invited to were more strongly confirmed by what we learned in the mission field. And as we tentatively said “no” we came home to a family crisis that helped us see that this assignment indeed was not for us.

Budapest-Paris of Mid Europe

Thirty-seven years ago, Don and I left for missionary work in Indonesia committed to a lifetime of ministry in that beautiful country.  Three and a half years later, we came home to the United States and couldn’t go back there for various reasons.  I grieved over this loss for five years.

Lake Sebu, Philippines

Many years ago, I was a young teacher in a missionary school in the Philippines.  An opportunity to work among the T’boli and Manobo tribes in the hill regions of Lake Sebu, Southern Mindanao presented to me.  At that time this area was hardly developed.  It was very remote and isolated from the more populated towns.  We used to hike a total of 8 hours, and had to cross a river and a lake to reach it.  Food items were limited to sweet potatoes, greens from fern tops, rice and fish from the lake.  There was no radio, television or phones. There were very scarce creature comforts.  It also meant living and teaching among people with very little literacy.  But it was beautiful, almost untouched area where one lived very close to nature.  I wanted to be assigned to this teaching post.  I did all I could to prepare for this assignment.  But I did not get it. 

Sometimes we are set at the beginning of a journey only to have to make a U-turn or a complete turnaround later.  And turn we must.  Stenciled on the wall of a Hummus Café in Budapest is this quote from Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion.  “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.”