I’m totally snagging one of the sermons from my church and summarizing it in this blog because although it is super short, it is THAT GOOD. And, of course, it described the World Race perfectly. The title of the sermon series was ‘Be a miner, not a whiner.” For those of you who don’t know, I live in Pennsylvania, just about an hour south of straight up coal country. Even in my area, there are many older gentlemen who grew up working in the mines, digging out coal, ect. It’s a dangerous job, many people lost their lives down there, and others suffered lifelong illnesses because of the amount of time that they spent down there in the darkness of the mines. But you know what? They got the coal. They got the diamonds. They got what was valuable to them at the time. They got what was important and what they were sent there to get.
So, how does God play into all of this?
We are miners, sent to earth to go into the dark places to find souls for jesus. it is our JOB as Christians to go into the places where satan is doing his dirty work. Sometimes it may be dangerous, or we may have to give things up in order to do this, but the end result is something even better. It's the lives of other human beings completely transformed and living for Jesus. And then there are the whiners. Whiners are full of excuses as to why they are not being miners, why they aren't projecting their christian lives out into the world for others to see.
When people find out that I'm going on the race, they typically have one of two reactions. Usually it's something along the lines of "oh that's so awesome, that's going to be such a great experience!" But sometimes, I get the "That sounds really dangerous, what if you die?" reaction from people. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? I could die on this trip. I'm fully confident that I won't, mostly because I have that really cool guy Jesus on my side. But I'm human, things happen, and if God wants me while I'm away on this trip, there is nothing I can do to stop it. Thats just how it works. So in my eyes, I have two options. I can live fiercly for Jesus and go be a miner in far off lands so that others can find all of the 'jewels' that come along with a life being lived for Jesus, or I can stay in Pennsylvania for the rest of my life and be a whiner. I choose potentiall risking my life to bring others to Jesus, not only because I'm an adventurer by nature, but more so because it is job as a Christian.
I am extremely fortunate to be able to participate in the race, and am excited to soak up every second of time that I have abroad spreading the love of Jesus, BUT (and here's the kicker..) going on this race is not what makes me a miner. Whiners use the excuse that they are not able to go to these places Those who are not able to participate in an adventure such as the one that I am about to go on are still perfectly capable of being miners here at home. There are plenty of people in our own communities who do not know the love of Jesus. You see, its not about WHERE we are mining, it is about WHAT we are mining. Its about being a MINER not a WHINER wherever God takes you. It just so happens that God is taking me to 11 countries in the next year to do his mining.. I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a miner who travels the world, but the work that I am going to be doing in these other countries is no more important than the work that still needs to be done in the States.
Basic message: Wherever you are, be a miner for Jesus.
