Returning from a mission trip brings its challenges, not the least of which is the physical adjustment to a time zone that is almost eleven hours behind the place you just left. Sometimes I really struggle with adjusting my biological clock to the clock on the wall, and the reality that, while your body tells you it should be six o’clock in the morning, the sky outside tells you it is nigh unto dusk. When I woke up in Bangaluru Thursday morning it was 6:00 A.M. there, but it was 7:30 P.M. Wednesday night here at home. It would be almost 40 hours before I would be able to lay my body down for a decent rest. Going that far, that fast, does not seem to be a part of what God intended for our physical bodies. Of course, the “slow boat to China” may be easier on the body, but it really chews up a lot of time. So, until my body adjusts to the Central Time Zone, I’ll take advantage of those wee hours of the morning when I can’t sleep to get some reading, study and meditation under my belt. I figure that just about the time I am used to getting up at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning instead of 2:00 or 3:00 that it will be time for Daylight Savings to kick in, and I’ll have to roll back the clock and find myself getting up yet one more hour earlier.
But there are other challenges that I face when I come home. For one thing there is the readjustment to a daily schedule that is disrupted when I make a mission trip to Russia or India. At home there are those constant reminders that there is a sense of “permanence” here that is not present when travelling over seas. Medical appointments, mowing the lawn, paying bills, and weekly shopping, to name but a few. When I leave all this behind and immerse myself in preaching and teaching, I tend to forget those things that await me when I come home. For several days after my arrival home I am busy catching up with bills, correspondence, writing, and reading.; and the longer I have been gone, the more there is to catch up with. Sometimes it is simply overwhelming.
Another challenge is readjusting my emotional barometer (if I may call it that). The opportunities for preaching and teaching the gospel in some places are abundant; and in some cases simply astonishing. Take for example my recent work in India. Brother J.C. Bailey first went to India to present the pure message of Christ to a people steeped in idolatry. The response was so astonishing that brethren back home simply did not believe there were so many being baptized. The response was in the 100’s, and in some cases in the 1,000’s. Churches of Christ were being established throughout India, especially in the south eastern part of that country. After fifty years the rate of growth does not seem to have abated. The receptivity of the gospel continues to this day. Large audiences, open hearts, and precious souls responding give a visiting missionary a spiritual “high” that lifts his spirit and gives him a deeper appreciation for the work of those who have “beautiful feet” [see Romans 10:15). When I come home there is a return to the reality that the soil for planting the seed of God’s word that exists in India on a wide scale is not present in much of the Western world. Wealth, prosperity, humanism, atheism, self indulgence—pick what you want; these are the things that have hardened the hearts of so many in our country so much so that trying to find the good and honest heart is like the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack. I realize that work in this “mission field” we call the United States is difficult, disheartening and often discouraging.; but we rest on the promise that we shall reap if we faint not.
Finally, there is a challenge of readjustment to a society that is literally saturated with sin and ungodliness. From the head to the foot (to borrow the words of Isaiah) the moral climate in America is in the cesspool. I am not suggesting that India is a sinless society, but it seems that here in America sin is flaunted openly and without any shame on the part of the people and the politicians. America wears her pride on her sleeve. Humility is an endangered species. Right or wrong, my perception is that in India there is a sense of moral responsibility and humility of heart that makes the preaching of the gospel such a success.
I can adjust my biological clock fairly quick; I can adjust to my daily routine here at home. But I find it much more difficult to face a world that seems bent on slapping God in the face. Therein is the great challenge of coming home.