Our church recently finished a missions convention; we invited several missionary couples to come and share their lives and ministries with us. Spending time around missionaries sometimes leaves people with a sense of awe because of the exoticness of where they live and what they do (and in my book, anyone who eats soup with their hands from a large pot with a goat's head sticking out does have a claim to living an exotic lifestyle). But most of them will tell you that most of what they do is fairly mundane. They get up and work, shop, eat, rest, and all the other "normal" parts of our existence. In the end, I think what makes them stand out
is not just their lifestyle, but their deep sense of the mission of God and the part that God has called them to play in that mission. They endure frustration and struggles because they know that they have been called to join God in his mission to bless all the peoples of the earth. That brings me back to me.
Is there any reason that I should feel less of a sense of God's mission just because my soup comes with a spoon and happens to be chicken noodle? I don't think so. When I wake up in the morning, I should have just as strong a sense of God's mission as my brothers and sisters living on the other side of the world. May the Lord help us to sense the opportunity we have every day to join him in his mission.
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2 comments:
Rev. Dr. Most Holy Stoner-
So true, so true. And so beautifully put. I think I shall link to your post from my blog...
Nice to see you blogging now - got yours off the link from Scott's. The reason that people like missionaries is that we would never be caught riding shiny red motorcycles like some "worldly" young pastors :) Thanks for the note - this is what we are trying to convince people of all the time - God's plan is no different for you in the USA than it is for me in another country, as if the God who made the universe was somehow baffled by the expanse of our oceans and cultures. We recently had other missionary friends say someone asked for their autograph! That is likely asking for the autograph of your fellow employee at work. "Yeah great job with that presentation the boss asked you to give - would you mine signing this napkin for me?"
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