Hi guys,
Matt making an appearance with you all for the first time! I know, I know. You all have been waiting anxiously on the edge of your seat for my voice in text but never fear for now I am here 😉 Just kidding we all know that my better half is, well, just that!
Preparation for this journey that God is taking us on is in FULL SWING! We have been traveling and sharing our hearts with gracious and kind Churches all over and have been given so many great opportunities to spread what Jesus is doing in our hearts and all around the world with individuals as well. For that we are forever thankful!!!
A large amount of the people I personally have come in contact and shared this next step of our walk with have responded with a similar question. Though varied in structure and vocabulary, the inquiry goes something like this, “Why?” Pretty simple right. “Why now, at this point in your life?” “What made you desire to take this step?” “How did you hear about and get connected with this trip?” Though that last one may sound like a completely different question, it really leads to the answer of “Why this organization?” or “What drove to this avenue of missions and Why?” From pure and curious minds these questions are asked and with pure and sincere lips they can be answered. For my wife and I, the answer to the eternally difficult one-word question, “Why?” can be given with an even more eternal one-word response: LOVE!
I go,we go, because love is the answer. For EVERYTHING!
We go because Jesus says in Luke 10:27 that everything we need (all of us need) is wrapped up in loving Him and loving others. We choose to take this journey because the world is dying and it is not because of disease or malnourishment or polluted water or all the other harmful effects of living on this planet. We ALL die whether disease, tragedy, accident, age, whatever the case may be, but we do not die because of those natural occurrences. We die because of our sin. Remember, we were not originally created to enter into or suffer death. Our earthly mortality was in inheritance of our disobedience. The world is fading and all the things in it so, we go because the only solvent to death’s wrath is love. If sin produces death and 1 Peter 4 says that, “love covers a multitude of sins”, then love is answer to death. We go first because love (The love of God) is the very antidote to our illness, and our sickness is not just some rash that will go away but a plague that is eternally attached to our souls. God has asked us if we will go and prescribe the medication and teach people how to use it properly for their cure provided from our Great Physician (And Pharmacist) 🙂
I must pause for a second and add that love is not geographical. This love we are speaking of is not special to the countries we are going to. The saving love of God is not more at work because we have chosen to leave America. Go must not always mean LEAVE, Go must always mean LOVE!! Just chew on that for a bit…
In continuing with Love being Why, we cannot overlook not only, The Saving Love of God but also The Edifying Love of God. 1 John states that “perfect love casts out all fear.” So many people, including all of us at some point, are enslaved the most by fear and we are often too afraid to even admit it. We are scared of what people think of us in almost everything. We are scared to take steps to pursue really anything because we don’t want to fail. Or better yet, for those who follow God, we are scared we will be left out to dry. The list goes on and on and if you think long enough I am sure you can easily think of something you are afraid of. And if you think even harder you will see that whatever it is that you are afraid of is actually holding you back from people, dreams, or action and keeping you from joy and fulfillment. See, we go because the Bible says the transformation, and release of all that fear holds onto, is LOVE and it CASTS OUT Fear. Cast out is a verb. It is something that love does. Love has a real effect!! If you want to live an impactful and effective life, nothing is more of that than love! Not just love but perfect love. We don’t have perfect love but, we possess it. We are not perfect love so we don’t go to promote our love for others but, we go because living in us is the very author and definition of love.
All in all, Love is ‘Why?” but love is also just as importantly WHO. We do not go for an experience or some crazy joy-ride adventure vacation hoping to find where love shows up. We go because God has shown us who His mind is for and is asking us to align with His heart for them and go to share of His heart for them so they may experience the fullness of life now and forever more. For God, it has always been about WHO. It has always been about revealing himself for the purpose of personal relationship. We want to go (keyword “want” because this is not our focus nearly enough) to WHO he wants to reveal Himself whether that be 11 countries in 11 months or the grocery store for 11 minutes! Love is God’s “Why?” so we want to let it be ours!
Kalyn often throws out a statement towards me that goes something like, “Wow, you really love love!” While that is usually a jovial jab at the fact that I am an emotional and sensitive person, I want it to be more and more true daily. That is what I want my tombstone to read: “He loved love.” That is the heart of God. He LOVES LOVE so much, that he LOVED the world enough that he would send his only BELOVED Son so that His creation could experience His LOVE that He created us for from the beginning, forever. That is a whole lotta love!
So let’s set aside as a team (You all signed up for this blog so you are my team!! YAY!!) to love love and let every “WHY?” be love all the way from moving all over the world to driving to work everyday!
Love you guys! Thank you for all the support and can’t wait to hear all LOVE accomplishes in YOU!
