The City of God

(Writing this the morning after caffeine-induced high at night; I don't doubt that God also used last night to speak into my life)

Those verses came to mind as I was praying for Mongolia, which led me to pray for the different ethnos as well. And I was suddenly filled with that deep longing and a deep sense of vision, as I envisioned awesome sights of each unique ethnos bringing gifts that reflect their culture and God's glory into the city of God.

I think this is the source of my attraction to tribes and cultures different from my own. That first encounter with Mongolia awakened that sometimes troubling attraction. Is it just wanderlust and the desire to be 'free', or romanticised attraction? 

This morning, it hit me that I was going into another city, with its different people groups. How can I work for the shalom of this city? Where the fruits of nature are fruitfully employed, and there is universal (mutual) flourishing, wholeness.1

I don't know where this will lead me, but as I was reminded by God last night, He only shows as far as the next step. Filled with thankfulness, as I recount my past steps in this journey. None of the privileges I currently enjoy are by my own smartness/forward-thinking, but taken from God's hand. May I not forget this.

^{1 Nicholas Wolterstorff, Until Justice and Peace Embrace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1983)} 

^{Quoting this for my future reference :)}