Missions and Small Things

She touches my face. She smiles and giggles. I try to coach her to follow me as I pat the table with my open hand. She imitates my moves. She laughs whenever she hears the sound of her hand hitting the table surface. We all laugh with her. Our one-year old visitor is visiting us for a day, and all four of us are delighted with her every move. Lucy is here with our family to take a day off from staying at a local orphanage home. We take turns cuddling with her. We cherish our short moment with Lucy and hope her day with us will help her prepare for her future family.

I support this orphanage ministry. Sarah is volunteering at this orphanage every so often and brings a child to our home for fellowship and social interactions. I do my part by helping Sarah. Carmen and Jacob are also engaged. They totally enjoy spending time with little ones like Lucy. We do this orphan-care as a family.

Little contributions are small. In most cases, they are so insignificant. However, we want to be faithful to both the small and big things that come to our lives. The Bible reminds us that if we are not faithful with little things, then we will not be entrusted with big things (Luke 16:10-13).

This past week, I also went to hang out with Sam, a Filipino migrant worker. Sam works at a local factory here in the south. This is his second year here in Taiwan. We went for lunch and talked about his family back home, his home church, and a few other mundane events. We did not have any earth-shaking conversation or deep profound theological dialogue. We just talked about ordinary things in life. I really wanted to get to know Sam. He is a new friend. This is only my third time to see him. I am still seeking God’s direction on where our friendship will lead us. I still do not know why our Creator has orchestrated both of us to meet up here in Taiwan. Meanwhile, as I wait for God’s answer to my petition, I hang out with Sam. We are thinking maybe sometime next month, when the weather permits and Sam has a day off from work, we can go hiking up on some Miaolin mountains. I want to be faithful to God in all circumstances, whether it is giving theological lectures to a big crowd or chatting with a person from a nearby factory.

This week is the start of our seminary classes. I am teaching two courses. Last Monday, I went to the school library to do some lesson preparations. Christine, one of our senior students, shared to me her dreams for a missionary work among the Chinese people of Asia. Our sharing time was a chance encounter, but I took that as God’s providential way of saying “meet with this student.” And so I listened to her story. I did my small part of encouragement.  As we parted, I said: “Let us continue this conversation.” We made plans to continue our sharing time. Nothing grandiose. Just little sharing time with another seminary student thinking about her future missionary work. I do my small part. Because one never knows if that small part might be a turning point to God’s grand design for something. I want to be faithful with little things. God will do the rest.