A Global Advent: 25 Stories of God With Us Around the Worldنموونە

In the mountainous region of central Sri Lanka, terraced landscape sprawls as far as the eyes can see. Hill after rolling hill produces the famous Ceylon tea that is enjoyed around the world.

Photo Caption: A tea plantation in Sri Lanka.

When you see a photo of the lush landscape, don’t you want to just walk between the beautiful rows of tea plants? If you and a friend could be dropped like a Google pin right in the middle of the photo above, who would you take with you?

What would you talk about as you walked through row after row?

Ever since the Garden of Eden, God has been walking with his people. In the cool of the day, God walked with Adam and Eve. David holds firm to the promise that even in our darkest valley, in the valley of the shadow of death, God walks with us, and we need not fear evil.

Jesus came to earth and walked everywhere with His disciples: along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, up to Jerusalem and to the Temple, into homes and, ultimately, into our hearts. And Jesus commanded His disciples to go into all the world to walk out our faith and bring good news.

On the fringes of the plantations like the one pictured above live the people who harvest the tea that is enjoyed around the world. Many of these families live in extreme poverty.

Joshua, the manager of a Compassion centre in one of these tea-steeped areas, regularly walks to visit and encourage families. These multi-generational families of grandparents, parents and children live in row after row of two-roomed structures made of mud and asbestos sheets.

Photo Caption: Joshua, a Compassion employee in Sri Lanka.

Joshua visits these families, knowing their feelings of isolation. As the cost of food soars in Sri Lanka, it makes putting food on the table more difficult than ever, so Joshua visits families to make sure they have their basic needs.

He’s living out Jesus’ command to go. His walk of faith brings hope to others.

Where we put our feet matters, and like Joshua, we bring the presence of God wherever we go.

Who’s someone that, like Joshua, you can walk alongside to bring spiritual hope or to meet a practical need?