[Part 2 of my Ministry Is:_________ series]
I’m obsessed with mountains. I love them so much I had a mountain range tattooed on my arm, okay? My love for them runs deep. So when I found out one of our first days of ministry was going to consist of hiking I was ecstatic.
The plan was to hike the top of a nearby mountain, see the Himalayas, be completely blown away by the gorgeous view, and leave the day of ministry on a high brought on by an enjoyable hike and the typical adrenaline rush that accompanies existing on the top of a mountain. Or at least that was my plan.
The purpose for the trek was to intercede for Pokhara, the city we were going to be living in for a month, but in my mind there was also another agenda. I obviously wanted to pray for my city (I am a missionary you know), but I was equally excited about the incredible view I was going to see. Who doesn’t love the view from the top of a mountain?
After hours of uphill steps we climbed the final distance. With anticipation I stood tall and gazed around at…fog…as far as the eye could see. No marveling at the expanses, no breathtaking view of the Himalayas, only foggy Pokhara in the distance.
My disappointment was as thick as the fog before my eyes. I climbed all this distance, I spent my energy and time, and all for nothing, I could barely see anything.
That’s when it hit me. Ministry is not about the mountaintop.
It’s not about where you are going
It’s about every step in between
It’s about casting vision for a city, not vision of mountains
It’s about the sweet lady at the mountaintop teashop serving me masala
It’s about the mountain workers we passed and shared the gospel with
It’s about the kids walking alongside us as we pass through their village
It’s about interceding for a city when it’s in your sight
Maybe it was by no accident that the only thing visible from the top was Pokhara. Maybe it was God’s way of reminding me “I haven’t brought you here to have a mountaintop experience, I have brought you here to love a city.”
Don’t make your life about the mountaintop. When you are living for the mountaintop you miss what matters. You miss life, you miss the beauty along the way, and you miss what ministry actually is: living, and spreading the Gospel as you go.
Not only did this hike redirect my wandering motives, but it also opened up my idea of what ministry looks like. Sometimes it’s working in an orphanage, sometimes it’s preaching, and sometimes is hiking up a mountain to blanket an entire city in prayer. That day was a foundation of what my whole month of ministry would come to be. It showed me I have been far too focused on “the mission” and missing actual ministry opportunities.
Ministry is SO much more than a mountaintop.
