So some of these things may be hard for me to admit to the world, or maybe even to myself. But I think vulnerability and openness might be some of the most special things in this world. I also believe that as humans we like to keep a mask on our faces to hide what’s really going on from the world…we like to give the illusion that everything is fine…when in all reality, most times things aren’t.
Three weeks ago, I landed in West Africa for the first time to begin what many have said would be a journey of a lifetime. I would be traveling the world, helping the disenfranchised, and sharing the news of Jesus throughout the depths of the world. The only problem is that I had been skeptical about Christianity for some time….I was confused how it was okay to come into others countries and disrupt others lives and tell them that what they had been believing for their whole life was a lie. That their religion built on so much culture and traditions was nothing more than a lie and that we had the real truth. This wasn’t sitting right with me…I was questioning literally everything I had been taught in the church and was wondering how Jesus in fact could be the only way. On the race I had met so many people who were so dedicated to what they believed and in my thoughts I was confused why we were limiting God to just one way to connect with him. I didn’t understand why there are billions and billions of people in this world who are all different so why couldn’t God connect with them all in different ways, just as long as he connected with them that all I believed should matter.
Now saying all this it’s pretty ironic that I would set foot on the mission field whenever I was skeptical with it all to begin with. Not only skeptical about missions in general but skeptical about all things dealing with Christianity. However, I had been told my whole life about the love of Jesus and how he was “the way” so I wanted to find out for myself if it was the real deal.
Moving into our third week of ministry, I was still confused, wanting to go home and pretty aggravated with myself and God that he had sent me half way across the world for all of this…I was sitting in a Church service in San Pedro, Cote D’Ivoire and didn’t know what to do with myself. The service was beautiful. It was full of such life and the culture of the Nivorian people which reminded me so much of my people at home. Nevertheless, I sat their thinking, “I don’t want just some beautiful cultural experience, I want something so much more.” In this moment, The Most High spoke to me, they said, “We too want something so much more for you, that’s why we sent Jesus, so you no longer had to live by cultural and religious norms. We wanted you to live in freedom from these temporary things and forever be connected with us.” I was taken aback by these words. For so long I had been such a spiritual person seeking God in anyway that felt free and unrestricted and the way to freely do that had been so near this whole time.
You see my friends, Religion and cultures are beautiful things and I love to admire the diversity between them. However, it’s safe to say that our time on this earth is fleeting, here today and gone tomorrow. Nevertheless, our souls are eternal beings and we must not forget that deeply connecting with the Most High is the only way to fullness because they are the only thing that are so much bigger than the world we know. Jesus was sent to us, in order for us to have this deep connection and intimacy with the Most High without the things of this world, I.e. culture, religion, and traditions getting in the way of something eternally beautiful. Jesus was sent so we could have freedom from these things. We indeed are free at last.
Peace and Blessings,
K.L.M.
