…something everyone should read – this season and always.
*NOTE: I did NOT write this….
-blog by Curt Devine
September 2010 World Race Squad 2
(He recently returned from the field.)
As I step into the church, bass booms against my chest. Neon lights reflect off the worship leader's guitar as he sings, "There is no one like our God," with an auto-tuned effect on his voice. I feel slightly uncomfortable. As the song builds, my friend turns to me and says, "Doesn't this sound amazing? They just spent $300,000 on a new sound system." I oddly laugh with a hint of anger. I'm now back in an American mega-church, yet I can't help but think about the third-world churches I visited this year, the ones with one Bible, no electricity and a lot of passion. I think about the impoverished faces I met-the toothless street children in Nepal, the drug addicts in Kenya and the young prostitutes lining the streets of Thailand. I'm torn by the contrast. Even though I want to worship, I only feel bitterness.
Coming back to America after experiencing third-world missions is no easy process. I recently finished the World Race, an 11-month missions trip to 11 countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, and while I've loved being home with hot showers and cold air-conditioning, the transition has been rough. It's so easy for me to judge friends when they drop $100 on a night out, thinking, "That could feed the homeless boy I met in Tanzania for a year," or to think I'm better than the guy with a Lexus because my Grand Am is barely worth a grand.
Last week, a friend even told me she woke up crying every day when she returned from Africa because she couldn't stand the wealth around her. While everyone coming off the missions field will struggle to different degrees, none of us should become bitter, America-hating cynics. Here are a few reasons why.
Abundance is not a bad thing.
The first day I woke up in my own bed after coming home, I decided to go to the grocery store for some breakfast. I found myself in the cereal aisle reliving the scene from The Hurt Locker, staring at an endless array of General Mills cartoons staring back at me. I'd forgotten that America is a land of excess. We can choose from more than 50 types of deodorant, 115 kinds of toothpaste and now 1,000 channels on TV.
This conflict between excess at home and scarcity abroad can be a lot to handle. The temptation will always be to either hate the abundance of America, judging your community for its consumption or to forget the poverty abroad and go back to the way you lived before your trip. The key is live within the tension. As Christy Vidrine says in her book Unearth, "There is a balance between the humility of scarcity and the peace within excess."
James the brother of Jesus writes that every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, meaning that every good thing we have is from God. Therefore, the first response we should have to the excess around us should be one of thankfulness. God has given us food, water, shopping malls, restaurants and Venti Mocha Frappuccinos even though we don't deserve them.
Our second response should be wise stewardship. I recently overheard a friend saying that she has a closet overflowing with clothes, yet she complains that she has nothing to wear. This reminded me of Jesus' parable of the 10 minas, where a ruler gives 10 minas (large amounts of money) to his servants to steward. Some make wise investments and use the money well, while one servant hides his share in the ground. The master returns and reprimands this servant for doing nothing. In turn, if we have full closets, stocked refrigerators or fat bank accounts, we should look for wise opportunities to give those things to others and encourage our friends and families to do the same.
Maybe the reason God has allowed us to live in abundance is so that we can be a blessing to those who don't. If we live within the tension of American excess and global poverty, we can respond with thankfulness and generosity, thanking God for what we have and giving much of it away to those in need. In this way, abundance is a gift.
…if you are interested in part 2…
How Not To Hate America After Missions (Part 2)
