News flash: For those of you unaware, which is probably most of you because I haven’t told very many people…I am going to Uganda in a couple of weeks! The most common question I get when I tell people I am going to Uganda or on the World Race (both short term mission trips) is, “Well what are you going to be doing?” I always feel obligated to give some powerful and purposeful answer but today I feel like being candid…
I HAVE NO EARTHLY IDEA! I just felt called and I said yes. (Side note: I just happened to have read a story about some dude named Abram aka Abraham who did a similar thing in the bible? Do you know about him? I think he is pretty well known in the bible. All God asked him to do was to go. And no, I am not comparing myself to Abraham for goodness sakes.) Satan is thriving off my insecurities lately though. He likes to creep in on my doubts and says things like, “Well then why the heck are you going? You are being selfish to want to travel around the world on mission trips without a purpose or plan! You are going to stay for a couple a weeks and then leave…there is no point in that. That is nonsense.” Satan feeds on those thoughts. Especially as friends and family have stated when there is so much need here just in our backyard.
You are correct my friends and family. There is a need in our very own backyard. A LOT of it! I actually am blessed to get to experience it every single day with my job as a home health physical therapist. I go into circumstances that honestly, I could have never imagined to have still existed in the US. I have seen third world countries and we have just as bad circumstances here in this country. I pray every morning, “Lord please just take me wherever you need me today!” I have a choice to make every single time I walk into one of these homes: to judge or to love like Jesus would, unconditionally! I choose to love unconditionally and through that choice I believe I get to minister every single day to those in need here in the US.
So why am I going to Uganda? Why do I want to go on the World Race? I honestly don’t know. I felt called by God and I said yes. When I, and I think most, think about mission trips we automatically assume people are going to help the poor, “to save the world.” Build houses. Build schools. Help the needy and sick. Feed the poor. Well all of those things might very well happen, which would be amazing, but that is not the sole reason why I am going.
I am very well aware of the fact that I am not going to save the world (although some days I so desperately wish I could). Neither is anyone else on this planet. I am going because I was presented with an opportunity that I believe God put in front of me. I honestly don’t know why He put it in front of me but He did. I am going to live life a couple a weeks with the Ugandan people. I am going to help the people in whatever ways I can but more importantly I am just going to do life with them. And I am going to say the taboo…I might just very well get more out of it than they do. Yep I said it. They might help me more than I help them. If that turns out to be the case, does that make me selfish? Does that make me a failure? Does that make my trip wrong or unwarranted?
Absolutely not and I am sorry if you feel that way. We Americans have this sense of entitlement. We believe we are superior and need to go help the poor. Who is to say they don’t want to help and pour into us? We may be materialistically rich but I am pretty confident in saying they are way more spiritually rich than us. Ultimately mission trips are about sharing the good news, loving one another and developing mutual relationship, regardless of whether they are short-term or long-term.
My world got absolutely flipped up upside down by one simple statement not too long ago and I will never forget it as long as I live (and yes, you know who you are who said it!), “There is no grace like the grace that Jesus Christ gave us.” How long did it take her to say that? You guessed it. Probably about 5-10 seconds. My world got ROCKED in 5-10 seconds. Did she plan to say that? Probably not. Did she think it was going to change my world? Probably not. Do you look at this as ministry? Did she have to travel very far to accomplish this? Not too far. Does it make it wrong that she also travels the world to share the good news? Who knows how many lives she has changed overseas! Would she have gotten Jesus in my life by building me a house? Haha who knows? Maybe. She definitely would have gotten my attention. My point is that we just NEVER know how God is going to use us here, there and everywhere!
The important message here is this: We, believers, are all on a lifelong mission trip. We are the church. Every single day. To every single person we encounter. Regardless of where in the world we are at. God calls everyone to do different things. We don’t know why He calls but just listen and obey and His beautiful and perfect story will be unveiled.
My powerful answer to your question is, I am going to spread the good news, do whatever I can do to help, try to love people like Jesus did and learn as much as I possibly can. Honestly, not much different than my everyday life here, I will just be in another country. I hope that answer will suffice for now!
