6 Days until we leave for Thailand…

In the rush of preparing and planning and packing, I received a Facebook message that made me stand still.  I laughed and was deeply moved by one of my friends from India.  I have copied the message below:

Hi Matt... This is Kingsley... Me and my friends miss you badly. Do you remember that you had visited MG Public school in Ramnad? There the 12th Standard kids became your best friends... You played basketball together with them Friendly match and some bet matches for DARK FANTASY COOKIES Which is the biscuit which was loved by you the most... I am one of the boys in that group... I am kingsley... I hope that you remember me.... You may had thought of us in Ohio.... But we are regularly talking about you in our class room... Still now we can't able to forget those huge BICEPS and that popping out SIX ABS After your departure we feels lonely... But we know that you can't stay with us... But thanks for visiting our school... We had a great time with you... We enjoyed playing with you... Again thanks a lot... After you read it please reply to me Matt.... You are more than friend to us... You are one of the family members in our family... Finally.. God is ultimate who helped you to visit India... We loves you and miss you a lot ....

This is a perfect example of the special joy in crossing cultures.  For clarification, Dark Fantasy Cookies are simply vanilla cookies with chocolate filling (not quite as exotic as the name implies, but tasty nonetheless).  Also, apparently one of the American cable programs available in India is WWE (professional i.e. fake wrestling, hence, the preoccupation with biceps and popping abs).  There are plenty of uncomfortable moments crossing cultures to be sure, but also many magical ones.  Playing basketball on a school playground thousands of miles from my home, laughing with friends though we can barely understand each other is one such moment.  Sports, like music, is one powerful connection that crosses and sometimes even transcends culture.  We can impact a person, a life with such seemingly insignificant moments.  Our friends Chris and McKenzie Nielsen are masters at this.  They know how to simply be with people.  As we prepare for living in a foreign culture, I can’t help but think this may well be one of the most important skills to learn.  If our spirituality cannot contain our physical lives---food, music, art, sports, relationships, etc.  then it is wholly inadequate.
Whether we are in India, Thailand, or the United States, we do not have to be masters at ‘making friends and influencing people’ to have a powerful impact on another’s life; we simply have to take the risk of relationship. What basketball games need to be played? What conversations over coffee are missing? What cultures can you cross and enter in to? What new families will you become a part of?

Kingsley is right, God helped us visit India; and it is He who often invites us not only into relationship with Him but with each other.  And He seems to be especially fond of connecting lonely people and making strangers into family.  Psalm 68:6 says: “God sets the lonely in families…”  Until we enter into each other’s lives and begin to appreciate and understand one another; until we not only tolerate, but learn to love one another, His Kingdom may not come, His will may not be done and His family will not experience the joy of life together. May we know the God who loves us. May there be room in our hearts  for God’s big, diverse family!
  
Please Pray for us in our goodbyes (to our family and friends here, whom we love deeply) and hellos (in the new families and friends we are joining in Thailand), our hearts are both grieving and eager with anticipation.

Thank you for your love and support , we love you all and are blessed to call you Family!

Matt, for the both of us.