The Ministry of Surveying

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17

About a year ago, I would have never imagined that I would be living in Africa working for an engineering ministry. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do then I graduated, but doing international ministry/missions was just a blip on my radar. Plus working for an engineering ministry? Didn't even know those existed. It's funny to think how God led me to this, how he closed doors, opened doors, pushed me in one direction when I was unsure, and basically placed me here. And in all that, it's funny to look at the kind of ministry I'm doing right now. Not quite what I expected

Part of the services that eMi provides to ministries here is doing surveying of their property. This is a huge help to them because they can find out how much they land they have, how good the land is for certain types of development, and they can have a map of the site to use for master planning. Plus we provide the survey nearly for free, minus some transport costs and things like that. So us doing a survey of their site for them is a big benefit to their ministry. For us that work at eMi, it's kind of like a ministry of surveying.

Honestly, that sounds funny to me. Ministry of surveying? Isn't ministry something more spiritual, like preaching, evangelism, working with kids, praying with people, that kind of stuff? Well yes those are all ministries, but I don't think ministry is restricted to just "spiritual" things. I think it can go much farther than that. I think it all comes down to the heart of the person doing what they're doing. For me, doing a survey for a ministry is in part a personal ministry of my own. Not because it's some super spiritual thing, but because it's a service to them, it's helping in furthering God's Kingdom but equipping this ministry, and I strive to do a survey as a service to the Lord.

Not does that mean that I always have that mindset? Honestly, no. It's easy to forget about the ministry part when you're hiking through the African bush with a survey rod to get a shot of that tree out there (especially when you're hoping there's no snakes around). Or when you lose al of your control points for the survey because some of the kids on site pulles up your ribbons, and the torrential rain has covered your stakes with mud so they're almost invisible. It can be tough. But through all of it I have to remember that this is a ministry and service to the Lord. I have to work at as if I'm doing it directly for God. That's a challenge for me, but looking at the verse I quoted here is a great reminder. God doesn't just overlook the things we do that aren't super spiritual acts of ministry. God is looking at our whole lies wanting us to serve Him in everything and seek to enjoy and glorify Him in everything. That's really freeing, honestly. That we can glorify God in surveying. In working at a restaurant. In answering the phone for 8 hours a day. In teaching kids how to count. In being a good parent/child. We don't have to feel guilty or obligated to always be doing something that looks "spiritual" to others. We can glorify God in the day to day.

Now that doesn't mean that we can try to play it easy and just say we're glorfying God in the day to day and not live lives that stand out for Christ and preach him in word and deed. We're called and should be compelled to serve Him in very obvious ways. He's worthy of it. But it's not that God ignores the time in our lives where we're at work doing something that seems completely unconnected to the spiritual realm. We can glorify God in all of that. All the time. That's a big challenge for me. I've been working at doing that lately, and I have to say it's hard. When things at work get tough and it's easy to be frustrated, it's hard to glorify God in your heart and mind. But that's a growing process for me that won't just end here, but continue for the rest of my life, I'm sure. I want to challenge you to do the same. Try to view every moment, everything you do (even they mundane things) as a service to the Lord and a way to glorify Him. First, it will keep you constantly focused on Him. Secondly, it will keep you farther away from sin and more aware of it in your life.

So this all goes to say that I've been surveying again lately. I went back with another intern to (attempt to) finish up the survey we started in September. We didn't quite finish, since it's a big site, but we made progress. It was a good time, even if it was somewhat frustrating. It's all a growing experience though, right? Before that, I've been working in the office still finishing up our project. The design is pretty much done, we're just doing some revisions to the report and drawings. It's a tedious process, but it's necessary. Soon enough we'll be done and we'll be able to hand over the design to the ministry! I'm so excited to have the final product done. It may be nerdy, but I'm excited to show people back in the US the site development for this school that I helped design. So cool.

Well, I'm going to call this blog a wrap. I have more things to talk about, but I think it's worth another post to keep things from getting too long. I hope all is well wherever you are!

Kyle