I will be arriving on American soil the evening of Saturday, July 30th, as this most bizarre season of my life will officially come to a close. It is certainly strange to have a definitive date and no longer the foggy ending that has loomed at some uncertain distance for the last 8 months, and hopefully this will only serve to motivate us into a greater places for these remaining 12 weeks. The World Race has somehow come to be life as usual, and to imagine cutting myself again from every thing that has become familiar to get thrown back into the formerly familiar context affectionately called “home” is certain to spur some anxieties and fears. Of course, we still have 85 days until the freaking out can really start, so might as well focus on the here and now.
As we sat earlier this week in a small bible college classroom sharing with a group of future pastors, my teammate Matthew offered me a necessary reality check while we seemed to be just going about business as usual. I have sat for years in my comfortable American suburbia, dreaming good Christian dreams of a far-off land of unreached people groups and the work being done there, of small groups of individuals preparing to set out to proclaim the good news to the remotest of villages in the face of the fiercest of persecution, of radical devotion to the only Word that brings life and desperation for those who have not heard. I am, in many ways, sitting in that far-off land. I am sharing the Word of God with these pastors that are going out to their unreached villages, plagued by the worship of false gods and a darkness whose only hope is the light of Christ, bringing that light with boldness and reckless faith. It is an incredible privelege to be here, to encourage the brothers and sisters we have in every corner of the world, and to take part in God’s worldwide mission of making disciples of every people group. I want to wake up every morning with an appreciation that God has given me the opportunity to come to 11 corners of the world and bear witness to His great commission being obeyed and fulfilled.
As I’ve said before, being out here has given me an incredible new set of eyes with which to see the work back in the states set for me to return to. This trip has broke down the romanticized ideals that I projected upon overseas missions. This group of eager students should have far more in common with all of us than they do differently, in the command and calling we share, and the desperation that should consume us once we start believing what we readily proclaim. I just finished David Platt’s “Radical Together,” a church-directing next step to his first powerful read, “Radical.” I would recommend both to absolutely anybody, and his words are probably more elegant than mine:
“You have the Word of God before you, the Spirit of God in you, and the command of God to you: make disciples of all nations. So whether you are a businessman or a businesswoman, a lawyer or a doctor, a consultant or a construction worker, a teacher or a student, an on-the-go professional or an on-the-go stay-at-home mom, I implore you to ask God to make your life count where you live for the spread of the gospel and the declaration of his glory to the ends of the earth.”
