It was the end of 8 days of ministry activity in Lebanon. Our team from LAC had been hosted for a ‘thank you’ dinner at the Rayaq Church whom we had partnered with. Pastor Milad, his wife Hoda and a number of their friends and fellow ministry leaders, along with our team of 14 were all packed elbow to elbow around tables in a room that usually is for children’s ministry. Together we had enjoyed a meal cooked especially for us and the table had groaned under the weight of all the various dishes prepared. A typical Thanksgiving table here in the U.S. would have looked with envy at the bounty set upon those tables, but that wasn’t the memory I will carry away from that evening, nor will it be the laughter or the many mentions of ministry moments from the week now passed. For me it will be these words: This is all we have…
The evening was breaking up and I stood with one of the key leaders from the Rayaq Church. I knew this man as one who often leads the church’s congregational singing from up front and I also knew him as Pastor Milad’s ‘right hand man’ generally…always ready to serve. Our team had been at Mahole’s home earlier in the week on the night they open their home up to any refugee in their village who wishes to come over and hear stories about Jesus, enjoy a hot drink and talk about their lives and even receive prayer if desired. I had watched all week as we were there, as his wife, the classic “Martha” in the Mary and Martha dinner-with-Jesus-story, organized much of the care and feeding for our team, as well as for any and all other church volunteers. I watched as their daughter also volunteered and served all week at the church, assisting with the medical outreach, interviewing each patient regarding medical history and keeping an orderly progression throughout the day. This family of servant leaders were models to emulate in so many ways and so tireless in their serving, but it was as that evening broke up that it all made began to make more sense…this is all we have.
Mahole shook hands with me as I was departing from dinner that final night and asked if they would be seeing me again. I answered him with an answer commonly heard throughout the region as an answer to many kinds of inquiries, Inshallah or in other words, as God wills. It is an acknowledgement that we control less than we think we do and it shows honor and reverence to a sovereign God, who is in fact is the only one who can control time and space. Mahole agreed with me and added that he hoped God would indeed bring me and others from our LAC church family back at some point in the days to come. And he also commented that he understood that there was so much in general life as well as in ministry back in the States pulling all of us in many directions and that he knew this first hand. He told me he knew this from personal experience as his brother had immigrated to Texas many years prior and he and his family in Texas always seemed to have so many things going on and that is when he hit me with the verbal hammer as he said to me ”as opposed to them or your probably, this is all we have.
Since the beginning of Syrian Civil War 8 years ago, refugees had been arriving in an endless flow into their near neighboring nation. The flow increased and decreased, but they kept coming. Life was altered not only for the those fleeing, but also for the receiving cities and villages in Lebanon. Life was altered for the churches…people and places that had never been more than tolerant of Muslims at best, saw the need to offer respite and aid. People who only 20 years earlier had been under the harsh occupation of the Syrian Army, now were needing to love their former enemies in practical ways and no doubt that many of thee very refugees had served in the military and been part of the occupying force in Lebanon during those 20 years. And why were they loving these former enemies and a brutal one at that? Because that is what Jesus taught. That is what Jesus did.
For Mahole and their church, life has changed irreversibly; what once was, was no more. There was a new normal and he went on to tell me of the amazing moments, answered prayers, loaves and fishes-like miracles occurring regularly and though life continued in some ways the same, in other ways everything had changed. Their focus as a community of Christians, began to revolve around the opportunity to practice Matthew 25 every day by ministering in word, deed and prayer for the needs of others, every day. No longer Mahole said were there many things to be distracted by, because…this is all we have.
This brother in Rayaq, Lebanon, helped me to see that when he said that was all they have to do…he wasn’t speaking of lack of personal or professional options even, nor was he speaking of the busyness related to this Matthew 25 activity; he was speaking of priority. Jesus said early in his ministry life, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does." (Jn 5.19 NLT). Jesus is explaining to his disciples that he would demonstrate his love for his Father through his actions, actions which he learned from the Father. And so it was and is with our brother and sisters in Lebanon…by their own admission, flawed and imperfect humans though they are and like all churches, carrying their share of warts and scars, none the less, before them was an eternal opportunity like none they had ever imagined and so they focused on the task because…this is all we have.
I come home wondering about the tasks I focus on and where some of them should fit. I wonder what I might be missing that God would have me see. I am left wondering if I am completely honest, if there is a specific single-minded focus that should be applied in my life…at this moment and in this place... and whether my vision and purpose and our own church’s purpose, is as clear as this brother’s vision and purpose. And what would we do, if we were in their shoes and this was all we had?