Month 2 is coming to an end, can you believe it? I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post a blog this month, but I’m excited to give you an inside scoop on what the Lord is doing over here in Albania.
So 1 month out of the 11 on the World Race, the whole squad gets together at one ministry site for “All Squad Month.” It’s been challenging, fun, and exciting being all together. This month we’ve been in Lezhe, Albania with an organization called LightForce International. We have helped in a variety of ways to support several different summer camps, including a camp for 80 Balkan teenagers ran by Peace Corps Volunteers, and a camp for an Albanian Baptist church. In between camps, we’ve helped maintain the compound for future use as it hosts over 2,000 kids throughout the summer.
This month has been hard for me, mostly in ways I would not have expected. Coming on the World Race, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what this year was going to look like, and to be honest with you, this month hasn’t lived up to those expectations.
Here are some of the jobs I’ve had this month: taking out the trash, lime washing walls, cleaning out pig pens, pulling weeds and supervising camp activities. World-changing, right?
I don’t mind doing these things, I truly don’t. In reality I really enjoy serving in that way. But when I signed up for the World Race and started exploring the WR website and blogs, I unknowingly put together a list of expectations in my head of what my Race would look like. A lot of the work and ministry this month has seemed like “busy work,” when I’d much rather be doing some kind of evangelism or preaching or working with widows and orphans… doing something practical to reach the lost world. This month I’ve had to fight off asking myself the question, Is this really the World Race? And even the question, “Is this really what God called me to do?”
The answer is YES.
When I heard God calling me to the World Race and I said ‘yes,’ there were no guarantees of what this year would look like. What I did expect to was abandonment and brokenness. I’ve learned that abandonment is the place of letting go of what you’ve known, knowing that for something new to begin, something else must end. And brokenness is the place where hardships occur and compassion is birthed. I’m on a journey that spreads the love of Christ and also brings me into a closer relationship with him. He called me to leave behind my own work, my own life, and to come after Him. And who am I to decide what the work of the Lord looks like? Who am I to question the work He has me doing?
Whether I am preaching to the unsaved in China, feeding orphans in Swaziland, or lime washing walls in Albania, I do it with joy in my heart because it’s for the Lord. I do it because it’s an opportunity to minister to God, the people around me, and through my actions spread the love of Christ.
Something that our host George reminded us at the beginning of this month was the importance of working unto the Lord. With whatever we do, we are commanded to do it unto the Lord. I never truly understood what that meant. I comprehended it logically, but it didn’t make a whole lot of sense in my heart. But finally I can say it does.
I think we get too wrapped up in ‘mission work’ and being in ‘full-time ministry’ that we forget that every day we wake up we’re in a mission field. Every day we roll out of bed, we’re in full-time ministry. Working a 9-5 job in the USA gives you just as many opportunities to be Jesus to people as being a missionary across the world. As Christians, we must live our lives “unto the Lord.” With everything we do, we do it as ministry unto Him.
David Wilkerson has a quote on how to know when you’re ready to be a full-time minister or missionary:
“You no longer need human applause. You don’t need an assignment, a plan, or to be involved in some great work. You don’t need an endorsement or credentials. You don’t need a congregation or a church building. The only ministry that satisfies your soul is your prayer and worship to the Lord. You’d rather be alone with Jesus, feeding him with your praises, than to be admired as a great minister. You know all ministry to others flows out of ministry to him. So you’ve given yourself completely to a single thing: “My one calling on this earth is to minister unto the Lord.” Then you’ll be ready for what God sees as full-time ministry.”
That quote helped me understand better what it means to work unto the Lord. Coupled with that, God gave me a vision earlier this week that portrays this “audience of one” mentality. I pictured me as a worker in the front yard of my boss’s house. My boss was sitting in a chair on the front porch on his wooden deck, and watching everything I did closely. My boss was important to me, and I wanted him to know how much I appreciated him. I was happy that he had given me work to do, and given me the chance to show him my gratitude for that work. And so, as I would be working in his yard, pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, tidying the garden, I would be doing it for him and unto him. Looking up every once in a while in hopes of seeing him smile, hoping that he would be proud of me. This simple picture helps me comprehend what it means to work unto the Lord, working to minister to him.
I want to challenge you with this question: Are you ignoring the chances you have to serve God in your daily life?
No matter if you are a school teacher, a janitor, a salesman, or a financial advisor… each day is a new opportunity to serve the Lord and be a light to those around you!
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.” -Colossians 3:23
“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose.” -Proverbs 16:3
Helping our head cook Flora cut meat from a freshly butchered pig. This was a stretch for anyone who knows me!
E-Squad at the Adriatic Sea after worship on Sunday 8/24!
E-Squad Logistics! (Taylor Scott and I in Tirana)
