What I learned.
1) What we were doing was the shortest of the short term missions. We spent three days “Searching for God Knows What� in a town named Dong Tau. I think this portion of the race was more about building faith than it was anything else.
2) God doesn’t need you. The thing is though I think He wants us to be involved, to be His instruments of love. It’s His desire that the Church be active in bringing light to dark places.
“Human beings who are not Christians are far more than potential converts. In our concern for reaching out with the gospel, we can unwittingly reduce the person to less than the whole being that God formed. When we shrink our interest in people to the possibilities of where their souls may spend eternity, it is easy to miss how God might already be working in and through a particular person.�
God didn’t need us to go do His work. Yes, we are the hands and feet, but the Lord is going to do His work whether we are on board or not. He wants you.
3) I think people hear the Lord speaking to them more often than not and choose not to listen stating they don’t hear. But God is not silent. He is no Baal who is sleeping to be aroused to action. The Holy Spirit is constantly speaking. Therefore, saying you don’t hear is an excuse to never answer the call to go.
I’ve heard it said God did not direct his call specifically to Isaiah — Isaiah overheard God saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?� And he answered, “Here am I send me!�
Many people here, few people answer the call.
4) “Friends who are poor challenge our lifestyles of consumption when they build generous and gracious lives out of very few material resources.�
We weren’t walking around the suburbs. People weren’t just giving out of abundance. They slept on the floor, while they gave us their beds. They provided a feast for us out of what they had. We live such guarded lives in the states. Rarely inviting strangers into our homes, let alone to feed, house, and clothe.
My lifestyle is constantly being challenged on this race.
