Our squad co-ordinator talked about re-entry into North America last night .
Fiddlesticks. I was just starting to get the hang of this thing.
I assume that the rest of you are also scratching your head, wondering where in the world time has gone. Maybe it’s enjoying a venture in the Arctic, watching ice caps melt into the oblivion. I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s sun-tanning on Bora Bora because it got a good deal on flights.
All I know is that it’s always leaving us. It’s reliable only in the sense that it consistently goes, yet never returns.
So as I’m sitting here bright and early in the morning and looking over the Nile, having danced my little salt-n-pepper shaker all over this pavilion last night with my squad girls, I feel urged to warn myself and you about the coming changing of the seasons.
It’s so easy to live as if we’re going to be doing it for another few decades, and that might be so, but there are opportunities right here and right now that will not always be around. If I’ve witnessed the harsh reality of thirty days. We are always moving on this trip and I’ve had to grieve the loss of some months because I just wasn’t present. And we’re not going back. I can’t re-do Cambodia with my team. I had my moment, precious and spontaneous and full of life giving potential, and I often looked at it through the eyes of a vacuum salesman on his last pitch of the day: Let’s just get this over with.
But our collective mission is to make Jesus famous (be like him, be in love with him, give glory to him), and minister to people we encounter every day. Good days and bad days alike. Tired days. Look for God everywhere and you’ll find opportunities to serve and bless everywhere. Look for God when you’re rafting the Nile because he’s there (in the massive and raging rapids, for instance). Your rafting guide maybe isn’t a Christian. HI, WE’RE ABOUT TO ALMOST DIE TOGETHER BUT YOU’RE GOING TO PULL ME BACK INTO THE RAFT WITH YOUR SUPER STRENGTH AND I’LL BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL SO I SHOULD TELL YOU THAT JESUS LOVES YOU.
It pains me that I only have three more shots at diving head first into ministry in this unique way. My request is that you pray for me to be fully immersed, seizing every opportunity and not quitting early so that the Kingdom might come to everywhere I touch my feet.
Folks, time is always leaving but God is the redeemer of time. If you’ve found yourself being less active about the calling God has for you, it’s okay. Ask for his eyes, for his heart.
