On this trip I have gained perspective. I have gained perspective on cultures, on relationships, on Jesus. I have also gotten a front seat observation of the Christian mission field this year, and realized that it is not everything I thought it was.
I went on my first mission trip almost 10 years ago. It was to Mexico and it was a week long. I came, I saw, I worked, I loved, I left. The World Race has been somewhat different.
One thing that has challenged me is understanding that I really have nothing to give. In America we give to charities, to orphans, to homeless and then really think nothing more of it. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is much easier than looking in the face of a man who hasn’t eaten in days and telling him he needs Jesus.
Before I came to Rwanda, I thought that it only made sense to meet people’s basic needs before we gave them the gospel. How would they listen to anything I said, I who had everything, if I told them I couldn’t give them anything tangible?
But I soon figured out that is not how it works. Poverty is not their problem. Drugs, abuse, alcohol are not the problem. They are results…they are symptoms. The problem is life without Jesus. He wants to provide for His children so badly. He wants to take them out of the pit and set their feet on solid ground, and then their life will be healed. I believe that.
Sometimes I feel bad that all I have is Jesus to give them…but is what they need more than anything.
I know that missionaries in history have not always made the best name for themselves and have pushed their beliefs on unwilling ears. I can tell you that I would not ever try and force anything on anyone who would not want to hear.
This rarely happens, however. The second thing I have learned about missions is that I have a certain advantage. We are at war. We go to battle every day and when you are in battle if you have something that will give you the advantage, you use it.
The thing is, life is not fair or even equal. If anyone said it was they have not really lived life. As an American I have the opportunity to travel to all of these places and people. Even though most of the money I used was given to me by others, it is still a huge advantage that I have.
When a group of Americans show up at the doorstep of a Muslim woman in Tanzania or go into a prison in India, people will listen to them. We can have a bigger impact on them in 10 minutes than their pastor has had in the last 10 years. It isn’t always fair and I have often felt guilty about being treated so differently, like we were something special. God has blessed my life. The people here understand that so much better than I do. They are constantly talking of the things we gave up to come here and it means so much to them, and they are always willing to listen to what we have come all the way around the world to say.
Even though it doesn’t seem like I have given up that much, my sacrifice is always honored. Something that these people have helped me understand is that if Jesus came from earth to earth it wouldn’t really strike any of us as extraordinary. But He didn’t. He came from heaven to earth. He gave up being God, living in splendor in a place where there is no pain or suffering to come and live as a human. To a lot of people America sounds like heaven and just us being here somehow means something. It is not something that I take lightly and even if it seems a little unfair, I will use it to Jesus’ advantage every chance I get.
Missions are not everything I expected. They are harder. They are better. But I feel such joy going to the nations. When Jesus told His disciples to go to the ends of the earth and preach His word, He meant it! There is something that released inside of you when you fulfill this command. I have never regretted one moment I have spent loving God’s people. When we are being used for what we were made for, everything comes together. We were all made to be missionaries. It is simply showing God’s love to everyone who needs it.
