\u201cThe business was going very well\u201d, she said. \u201cStaff from\nthe company next door and across the street and the kids from the center, they\nall crowded in and we took their orders and the caf\u00e9 was real busy all those\nmonths\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She continued talking as she put a dish of steaming hot\nlagman in front of us. The aroma of thick noodles covered with sauce from the\nstir-fried beef and veggies was more than inviting. \u201cWelcome home\u201d, I whispered\nto my husband as we broke the lepeshka bread into pieces. Their 8-year-old son had\na twinkle in his eye as he excitedly informed us, \u201cThere\u2019s even chocolate cake\nfor dessert!\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I smiled as we listened on. It felt so comfortable, so good<\/em> to be back with our Kyrgyz\nfriends in the southern region of the republic. She continued talking about the\nthings they experienced when they opened their caf\u00e9. \u201cOf course, we were hardly\never home. We would leave early in the morning, and two of the kids would go\nwith us and our third one joined us after school. We ate all our meals there,\nand would come home late and tired. But it was going really well. We even\nstopped counting our change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And she went on explaining more, but she\u2019d already lost me.\nI stopped in my thoughts, pondering over her last statement. Change? Stopped counting their change??<\/em> Did\nthey really collect it all and count it, every last penny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n When was the last time I even noticed <\/em>ours? <\/p>\n\n\n\n And I looked around me as if seeing everything for the first\ntime. I noticed the handmade drapes from wallpaper that she\u2019d carefully hung in\nthe window to hide the sun. I watched the kids as they toppled over each other,\ntickling and giggling and playing; and I listened as they squealed in\nexcitement over the new pens we brought them, fighting over who would open them\nfirst. I looked at the dresses that the mom and little girl wore, and listened\nas the husband told us that she sews all of her clothes on a 60-year old sewing\nmachine that she had to keep turning with her hands because they didn\u2019t have an\nautomatic one. I listened to the husband\u2019s prayer as he thanked the Lord for\nHis grace and for blessing their home with our arrival. I noted the bible\nverses that hung on the wall and the deep satisfaction in the eyes of them all.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I took it in and I was stunned. Not a word of complaint, not\na hint of disappointment of not having <\/em>or\neven wanting <\/em>more… <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo why did you give up the business, why did you stop\nrunning the caf\u00e9?\u201d, I asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSummer outreach programs and children\u2019s camps are starting,\nand there\u2019s construction to do in church and lots of other things coming up.\nWhen we ran the caf\u00e9, we couldn\u2019t do ministry whole-heartedly like we used to\u201d,\nshe answered. \u201cBesides, we have peace and true joy in our hearts now, even though we\ndon\u2019t know what\u2019s ahead. <\/em><\/strong>I\u2019ll probably bake from home and we will sell\nthe goods in stores, at our own pace and schedule. But we know He will be\nfaithful, as He always has been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we looked at them again, this family of five. This\nfamily that put Him<\/em> first; put the\nneeds of the Kingdom above their own desires. This family that treasured inner\npeace above outward prosperity, treasured eternal deposits above earthly\npossessions and treasured faith above finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This family that held a Kingdom perspective and lived out\nKingdom principles as they passed their days by on Earth \u2013 and their life\npainted out Jesus\u2019 words,<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these thing will be added to you\u2026\u201d Matt. 6:33<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A living application of His teaching, they live by the\nprinciple Kingdom-first<\/em>; <\/p>\n\n\n\n So that Kingdom-first<\/em> would become Kingdom-forever<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We went home that night, to the apartment we are staying at\nfor two months, and before bed I got on my knees and prayed for forgiveness. I\nneeded to confess that, sometimes, I speak things that I don\u2019t live out. I\nworry and fret and think about things that, ultimately, don\u2019t matter. I cloud\nmy mind with earthly desires and leave little room for thoughts of the Kingdom.\nI forget about the One who left everything<\/em>\nto bring the Kingdom for a short time here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Left everything \u2013 so that, one\nday, we could live with Him in His kingdom forever.<\/em>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe business was going very well\u201d, she said. \u201cStaff from the company next door and across the street and the kids from the center, they all crowded in and we took their orders and the caf\u00e9 was real busy all those months\u201d. She continued talking as she put a dish of steaming hot lagman in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-central-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":598,"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shcherbans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}