“I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10b
There is a phrase that I have heard enough to memorize:
“I want that John 10:10 life. I want to get to the end of my life and say ‘Man Jesus, what a ride? The places you had me go, the people you had me impact. What a ride?’”
What does that ride look like in me? Where has Jesus lead me? Who has Jesus placed in my path to impact?
So what kind of life is Jesus having me living right now? Well let me tell you! Yesterday I was handed a machete and lead into the jungle to chop down dead banana trees and pile them up. After that, my squad and I practiced dance motions for a kid’s camp that we will be helping with tomorrow. Today, our host handed us a few shovels and a pick axe and asked us to dig a pair of ditches in the mud and clay. Hard work.
So this place I’m in is amazing. The hosts here that we get to serve and come alongside in ministry are AMAZING. My squad and my team are the absolute best I could ask for. Jesus lead me here. Jesus is the source of all the impact that I have had here and will have all along the way. But if I’m honest, this is not easy. The work is hard and the days are long. It is difficult to be drenched in sweat, caked in mud, and throwing your aching back into your work all the while asking God “How is this impacting your Kingdom?” without receiving an answer. It is hard to be surrounded by people 24 hours a day when I am so use to doing things alone. It is day 5 here in the Dominican Republic and this Race already has me physically, mentally, emotionally, and, in some ways, spiritually drained.
Is this the “full” life Jesus decribed? Is this the kind of life that will gain me crowns in heaven despite feeling bankrupt at the moment? Honest answer…probably not. This is a mission trip. In a month my team and I will be in a new country doing whatever is asked of us there. Once finished we will move on to a new country and repeat the process. This is not the rest of my life. In nine short months I will return home and my World Race will be over, but that might just be where the John 10:10 life begins.
Nine months is a wonderful start, but it is a flash of lightning in the storm that is my life. That single lightning strike can be immensely powerful and a real shocker (<
I will tell stories from this trip for a long time, I’m sure of it. Stories of how God used my team and I for change in His Kingdom and stories of how He changed me along the way, but it is my hope that the impact does not simply stay in the story.
