Expecting the Unexpected

As a Christian going on a mission field most of the time other Christians who have experience doing mission work will tell you to expect the unexpected. Also, the mission field is anywhere you are. This includes the travel time to and from the mission field. A lot of times it’s easy to relax from listening intently to what the Lord is calling me to do in the moments of my travels to and from the mission trip location because I’m focusing so much on what we will do once on the ground in a foreign land or what I need to do when I get back home.

Today was a great example for me of how Christ can work through people for his glory even in the transition to the mission field. I sat down on the airplane today for our connecting flight from Atlanta to Miami. I was sitting by a young adult named Michael, and began to talk with him about himself and his mission trip to Honduras he was heading to. Some ways into the flight he asked me where the barf bags were and as I went to pull out the one in front of me, a fountain of vomit began pouring from his mouth and nostrils. It ended up all over him with some of it ending up on me and my possessions. Instead of freaking out, the Lord gave me peace in the moment to be able to properly handle the situation with more compassion than I could ever have had on my own. He was very embarrassed afterwards, but the Lord prompted me to write out a letter of encouragement to give to him before the flight landed. I gave it to him and after we got off the flight we kept running back into him and his parents on our layover in Miami. He told me he had read the letter, thanked me for it, and his embarrassment had now faded to eye contact and smiles.

I know it seems like such a small thing but the devil uses embarrassing situations like that to try to destroy your confidence in Christ. Without proper encouragement, you could feel defeated the rest of trip before it starts and really miss God using you in such mighty ways.

I just want to praise God for that opportunity and the peace and compassion to carry out what he called me to in that situation.



Mark Newlin