To the Auggies (aka- August Squad, a term coined appropriately by our wonderful mobilizer, Shannon Morgan)- future family, friends, confidantes, and travel mates. I was going to share just a couple of verses with you guys, but then as I was reading the whole passage, I felt the need to share it all. So, forgive me. It’s a little long, but well worth the read (I mean come on, it’s the Bible. Feel free to skip my addition at the bottom). Without further ado, I give you 2 Corinthians 4: 1-18 MSG version.
1-2 Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.
3-4 If our Message is obscure to anyone, it’s not because we’re holding back in any way. No, it’s because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won’t have to bother believing a Truth they can’t see. They’re stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we’ll ever get.
5-6 Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
7-12 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us-trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us-he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
13-15 We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!
16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
This is my prayer for our squad and it will be until the day we return. It’s for all the times that have yet to come, good and bad. I’m also throwing down a gauntlet of sorts. At the beginning of the passage, it says “we refuse to wear masks and play games.” So, I’m asking you to do that. I’m asking you to take off any mask, any front that you might put up because of fear. Because you are afraid of what fellow teammates might think, or how supporters might react. Be real. Be honest. Be open. Be YOU. The wonderful person that God created you to be. This is as much of a challenge for myself as it is for you, and I’m asking that we do this together-as a team and as a family. That we continue to lay it all down and step out into this job God has called us to. To remember the precious cargo that we are carrying to the world, and never forgetting that we are an example.
I’m so looking forward to getting to know each and every one of you. This is going to be the wildest ride of my life thus far, and I will experience it with you. You will be there, encouraging me and supporting me along the way. So I hope to do that in return, starting now. May this passage encourage and inspire you. I know it will inspire me… although you may just have to point me back to it every now and again.
