Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 1 Corinthians 17:6-7
“Perhaps our most hidden sin is that we have so little time for one another. We need so much more than television [and other forms of technology] have to offer. We need to relearn how to relate eye to eye, hand to hand, heart to heart. We have to encourage one another to keep walking toward Jesus, toward joy, toward truth.”
Edward Farrell in Free to Be Nothing (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1991).
When I started traveling internationally, each of my trips looked like a “missions” of a special forces group: in and out. Over time, I have come to realize that my role needed to move beyond dispensing information to giving myself to God and others. That requires an investment of time.
Now my trips appear as “deployments” because I have learned that time together, face to face, fosters discipleship. It happens outside the program activities. Jesus taught the masses and then spent unstructured time with a small group. How does this relate to generosity?
It’s the “how” of giving ourselves to God and others freely and fully. We block the greatest gift we can give others: time. This Advent season, as you celebrate Immanuel, who is “God with us,” go give someone your time. And you do not need to do anything big or costly in doing this.
For example, I shot this header photo from Tambalale area 23, a mountain outside Lilongwe, Malawi, on which people go to pray. Chris Maphosa, GTP regional facilitator, and I invited others to join us. Four brothers did. It was a rich time together. Better than a tourist attraction!
We prayed for God’s blessing on our training on 11 December with workers from across the country, worshiped in song, read Psalm 2:8, and asked God for Malawi in the name of Jesus.