When we got to the place where we were staying for a little while this month in Santiago, we casually got told that there was another group coming to stay at our grounds for a week.
The reaction in my head was of mixed feelings.
Lets get a few things on the table: I love missions. (I wouldn’t be on the race if I didn’t.) I was called to long term missions via the short term mission field. I want people to realize their own callings (especially to the mission field).
But, as someone who is on the mission field for what I like to refer to as mid-term (two months to two years), sometimes the reality of the life I am living and the life of someone who is somewhere for a week is hard to come to grips with. Their suitcases are huge. (Yes, their bags for a week are about the same size or larger than my bag for 11 months.)
Somewhere inside of me, I am learning that Jesus calls all of us differently.
I was one of them a few years ago. I loved doing short-term missions because it was the only thing that my life at the time would allow. I loved going to the mission field. I felt alive there. A week in another context changed my outlook on how I viewed the rest of the year that I lived in the states.
But now, my outlook has changed. When you set out for a week, there are no considerations of “how dirty is this? Can I get away with wearing it for another day?” or the fact that at some point you have to do laundry. They will put on fresh clothes each day, and just wash them when they get to the states. They won’t consider that we likely have less clothing with us on the race for the next year of our lives than they do for their spring-break mission trip to Chile.
They see our lives as so radically different when the reality is that we all just want to be closer to Jesus and be a part of his story around the world.
They will get on the plane and go home next week, while some of us on my team fight the feeling that home feels about a million miles away. And the holidays will be upon us before we make it back to the states for any length of time.
Racers deal with such a different feeling of what it looks like to be missionaries. Truly, it feels much more like long-term ministry than short term. But because of changing countries, it can also feel like short-term missions, all in the same boat. Our freedom to explore as racers is different than people who are simply here for a short amount of time. If we want to run to the mall while we have a few hours free, we can do that. We have computers and phones on the race; most short-term missionaries leave those in their homes in the states.
And somehow, what we are doing is viewed as a radical, crazy thing to do when our motives are the same. We all want Jesus and to know Him. And we want to be a part of the stories that God is writing around the world. Jesus said in Scripture: “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.”
Thank you Jesus for laborers who are willing to sacrifice a week of their lives to be laborers in this harvest field. The opportunities will abound.
