Purpose

Here I sit at 5:13 AM in Durban, South Africa.  It is 11:13 PM back home on a Sunday.  This Sunday, I missed church as I was in flight.  The closest I came was the service being held in the airport at Dulles at the time that I was getting ready to leave on the first of three flights that got me here.

I will look at the readings during this week.  That is easy enough.

But last night, I was taken aback by a song I heard on the television.  Many hotels have a menu of services.  When I flipped to that channel, I had to stop.  What I heard was an orchestral version of a song that our worship band at my church performs often.  It is called “Here I am to Worship”.  The lyrics in the chorus include “Here I am to Worship/Here I am to bow down/Here I am to say that you’re my God”.

And when I wonder “What am I doing in Durban?  Why do I have to come so far for a meeting?  Why do the bunch of people who are meeting have to come so far?”  The last question in reference to the fact that we actually have people here from Sydney, Australia as well.  I know when I hear “Here I am to Worship.”  That is exactly why I am here.

And it fits so well with having watched Chariots of Fire on the flight on the way over.  Eric Liddell was both a great runner and a great missionary.  He commented that he feels God’s pleasure when he runs fast.  I don’t run like him but have written previously about feeling God’s please when I run as fast as I can with friends.  I also feel God’s pleasure when I do my work on a project through the university as well as I can to help provide more information for decision makers to try to make the world a better place.  Reading Atlas Shrugged on the flight, the song also helped to remind me of my purpose.  To bring glory to God through my actions. 

The reminders of God always come in interesting forms that I never anticipate.  A movie on the flight here.  An orchestral version of a song that could have been a part of any mass and while my family was at mass.  A book by Any Rand.  It’s all a part of my interestingly interwoven life with one purpose.