We always enjoy when the head flight attendant comes on the intercom at the culmination of a leg of a journey in one of those fancy flying machines and tells everyone to prepare for landing.  The admonitions to buckle our seatbelts and stow all those loose items are welcomed partly because they mean that we are getting closer to the end of our journey, but also because they often mean that we will soon be seeing those we love or beginning a new adventure.

One of the advantages of really landing in a certain place is that you get a better feel for the things there. For example, since we once transited through Seoul, we know Korea well. NOT! The depth of understanding of a place that comes with “landing” there is much greater than can be obtained during a flyover, a brief touchdown, or a transit through. Understanding usually increases the longer you “stay landed” in a place and the more actively you seek to engage in that world.

As we seek to be “salt” here in Taiwan, we have recently been reminding ourselves of the need to “land” more often and consciously avoid “flying over” or “touching down” or “transiting through” as we interact with the people to whom God has called us. 

As I drove out to a small Hakka town a couple of months ago to preach for the first time in a small church that was without a pastor, I consciously determined to “land” as best I could in their midst, even if I was only going to be there for a short part of a day.  I purposed to learn as much as I could about the church, the people, and their needs and to be sensitive to God’s leading about how he wanted to use me during the time there.  Six hours later, as I climbed into my car and headed for home, I was both drained and rejoicing at what had happened.

My sermon had been nothing special, but the fact that I had spoken in Hakka stirred up a discussion about whether or not this church should be using the Hakka language more.  After the service, two people came up and shared deep needs and asked for prayer.  A non-Christian who I had interviewed for my dissertation showed up after church to say hello.

When I finally got to the place where they were having lunch, several Christians asked if I would be willing to accompany them to visit and give communion to two
shut-ins.

On the way, we stopped by the home of another Christian who had expressed a desire that we pray with her because some evil spirits were bothering her. When we arrived at the first shut-in’s and heard a small portion of the crises she had been through recently that had been the means to bring her to Christ, I had a hard time keeping back tears — tears over the pain she had experienced and then tears of joy that there had been Christian witnesses in her world who had shared Jesus with her.  I felt privileged and humbled to be able to share communion and the Word of God with her.

The next shut-in we visited was also a recent convert. Although I did not get to meet her (she was sleeping after a rough night and morning), hearing her story in the car before we got there deeply saddened my heart.  In the midst of circumstances that led her into deep despair, this grandma had become so desperate that she had tried to commit suicide by drinking a bottle of chemicals used in farming.  She had succeeded only in ruining her esophagus and increasing her misery.  As we talked with her daughter-in-law, we rejoiced that God had provided a Christian witness in her life at this crucial time.  They had both been baptized only recently, and hearing their stories of God’s faithfulness to them was deeply moving.

As we walked out to the car after sharing and praying with this daughter-in-law, I remember being amazed at all of the ways that God had encouraged and challenged me, and how he had used me as “salt” in connection with the Christians in this little church.

I know this principle sounds obvious… that we need to “land” in the lives of those around us.  But we have been finding that we often need to remind ourselves to “land” even more than we are already doing in the midst of the busy-ness of our ministry lives.

Rev. Ethan Christofferson and his wife Sandra serve with Lutheran Brethren International Mission in Taiwan.

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