Living with a Focused Man

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14, NAS.

It is great living with a spiritual man like my husband. Often times I get so absorbed in the daily struggle of keeping food in the house and tending children in a third world Asian country, that I miss opportunities to share the “Main Thing” with the people around me. Not my husband. He is so focused that he’d witness to a rock if he thought he could convert it.

Sometimes this single mindedness can cause problems. For example, one day we were together at the market picking up a few things for the evening meal. It was during a special season of sacrifice, and my husband noticed a group of men coming from their prayers. I could see his mind working as he tried to figure out how to introduce these men to the One who made the real sacrifice for them. He got on our motorcycle and kick started the motor. He was obviously still deep in thought. As I started to swing my leg over the back of the motorcycle, he drove off before I could get on! Everyone in the store started to laugh, thinking that he would come back. He kept on driving.

People were still laughing, and I was thinking,”He’s going to lose face big time when he figures out what he’s done and has to turn around and get me.” I was laughing so hard that tears were coming down my cheeks. He kept driving until he was out of sight.

People stopped laughing. Hushed whispers began. “Oh no,” they said. “The foreigner has left his wife, and she’s crying.” At that point, not wanting to attract any more of a crowd, I collected myself and my groceries and began walking home. Hopefully, I thought, he would soon discover that I was missing.

Two miles down the road, my husband finally noticed that I was not sitting behind him. He turned the motorcycle around and found me walking along the road. We had a joyful reunion. As I finally got on the back of the motorcycle, I had to smile. Jordan* may be preoccupied, but his preoccupation is with seeing people find eternal salvation. It’s great living with a spiritual man like my husband.

*Name changed for security reasons.

Pray that:

Last Frontier workers will have the ability to laugh at their mistakes and extend extra grace and forgiveness to their spouses and children.

Last Frontier workers will remain passionate and focused about sharing the “Main Thing” with their people group.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.