If we are making the wrong sort of noises, there may be a cause e.g. too many potholes on our journey. Our mechanic told us that car the stabilisers needed more attention with these road conditions. We also need to make sure we have stabilisers in our lives throughout the cross-cultural journey.
The wrong sort of noises that indicate cultural stress are things like disappointment, lack of fulfilment, discouragement, feeling hurt, feeling inadequate or feeling “out of it”. Usually close family also feel each bump along the road because of our reactions which can include anger and irritability.
I once popped a tyre on one of the potholes in the village. I remember feeling lost and discouraged and helpless as I tried to figure out what to do. Feeling vulnerable isn’t pleasant and at that time I could hardly mutter a few words of Hungarian. In the middle of the situation, I had to remember that God had called me. He hadn’t called me to abandon me and that I could trust Him. I prayed, and that brought peace when there was peace it was easier to see a way forward.
On this missionary journey, we have learnt that although we can try to avoid the potholes we can’t. We would have no more success than a ship on the ocean trying to avoid the waves in a storm. Ships just like cars need stabilisers. The stabilisers counteract the motion of the ship, making people who are prone to seasickness much more comfortable. I recently read an article which stated that placing stabilisers on a ship made a profound difference (70% improvement) to the people who were travelling.
As missionaries, it isn’t always possible to find an easier path, but we can make the journey more comfortable by getting fitted out with stabilisers. We need stabilisers emotionally and spiritually we also need times of refreshment.
In the story of Pilgrim’s Progress Christian knew he would have to climb the ‘Hill of Difficulty’ but the first thing that he did was stop at a spring to drink. We have to go to the source of our strength instead of trying to do things on our own. The start of each new day should be spent at the spring of refreshment so we can face the challenges of the new day.
Extract from Pilgrim’s Progress.
So Christian first drank at the spring for refreshment, and then commenced to climb the Hill, saying:
This Hill, though high, I covet to ascend,
The difficulty will not me offend:
For I perceive the way to life lies here;
Come, pluck up, heart; let’s neither faint nor fear:
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.
