“And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God-who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty-and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him.” James 1:5 (J.B. Phillips)  

A prayer letter I recently received resonated with me. “In between larger, planned outreach and events, global workers face the day-to-day tasks where the mundane rubs elbows with the spiritual.” She explained what that has recently looked like in their lives. “Meet with contractors and architects at church, counsel people, distribute food to the poor, make a children’s bulletin for church, help a church member with his motorcycle battery, prepare a lesson on the book of Revelation, update our driver’s licenses, pray with a family whose teenager attempted suicide, run into a discouraged acquaintance at the grocery store and pray with them right there in the yogurt aisle.” 

Do these kinds of unplanned tasks sound at all familiar? The phrase “mundane rubs elbows with the spiritual” got my attention. My list of trials and unexpected tasks as we served in Portugal would likely have included putting up with the neighborhood dogs barking for hours on end, the pressure of recruiting teachers to come to serve with us though we provided no salary, the water heater running out of gas in the middle of a shower, and a plethora of other unexpected circumstances and tasks. Each of us could add our own challenges and interruptions to the list, and when they crowd into our lives without warning, we may “resent them as intruders rather than welcoming them as friends.” (James 1:2 J.B. Phillips) 

Like my friend, perhaps you occasionally feel as if your job description reads, ‘jack of all trades and master of none.’ You may even wonder if God has misplaced you rather than placing you in the culture and country where you serve. God does not make mistakes! He welcomes us to run into the open arms of His grace and wisdom, believing that He has enough of both for every circumstance and situation we face.