The world is a little smaller

 

This is what Europe looks like when you view it on a map. It seems large, distant, and the names and places seem so foreign when you are sitting in California looking at it.  I know...I look at the map on the wall in Heather's room often. I try to imagine what she is seeing at that time of day, the people she is meeting, and the things the Lord is showing her. She can seem so very far way.  Then: a wonder happens. She calls me on Skype, and her voice and face fill the room. Her laughter brings smiles, her trials bring tears, and the amazement of all the Lord of the universe is speaking to her fills me with awe.  The world in not so small after all, when we can connect with the loved ones that are there.

Now that Heather lives in a foreign country, I am getting exposed to all kinds of new things.  Roommates from Brazil that chat about their families and the God that brought them to this new country.  I hear stories of a girl from Syria, called by the Lord but who couldn't arrive for an extra week because her government was in uproar.  I hear the sounds of a new language, trying to form familiar words spoken here.  I learn of a country full of fragrant flowers, raindrops on leaves, 'wellies' and raincoats, tea parties and homework, and I realize how very small this world is after all.

It is a wonderful thing, this map. I find that it unites me to peoples I have never met. It makes me compassionate towards the needs of people I may never meet until we are all in heaven. It makes me realize afresh, how sweet it is to embrace God's plans. For, while I know He is working far away in Hungary, I also know He is working here, on my side of the map.  What a small world, when it is held in the Father hands.