But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. -Acts 20:24
As a follower of Christ, I have always had a verse to describe my life. It has changed multiple times throughout the last ten years or so, but I have always had a verse to describe why I follow Jesus. Most times, it describes the season of life that I am in (which is somewhat still true), but most recently God gave me a verse that I should be living out, no matter what my circumstance.
Over the last eight months, I have been working in Pittsburgh, PA at Calvary Chapel South Pittsburgh and Cornerstone Christian Prep Academy. I was reading through the book of Acts in December and came across this verse (20:24). It changed the way I did my job at both the church and the school. But we’ll talk more about that in a little bit.
I read through Acts again in January and God told me that I needed to serve Him and those around me even though it might cost me everything. I started to apply for the World Race even though I told myself I was crazy. I changed my mind again because I thought the idea of spending eleven months in eleven countries was too crazy – so I stopped the application, never deleted it, but stopped filling it out.
Every so often I would come back to my application. And then change my mind again. God wouldn’t really be calling me to go to 11 different countries and live out of a backpack right?
Yes He was. I would apply for job after job and nothing seemed right. Sometimes you get that feeling that can only be prompted by the Holy Spirit and that is what I was getting with the World Race.
By Easter weekend, I was pretty certain that God was calling me out to a place that I had never thought of going. I filled out an application while sitting in South Charleston, Ohio, a town that feels more comfortable than I ever expected, a place over 200 miles from the place that has been home for nearly 20 years of my life.
So why would I go to 11 different countries to do mission work for 11 months when I could be doing these things in South Charleston or Pleasant Hills? As Luke tells us in Acts 20:24, his life had no value to himself. His whole purpose for living was to share the gospel of Christ and to testify to the grace (getting something we don’t deserve) of God. It is no different for me or for you (if you have put your faith in Christ)! Our purpose is to testify to God’s grace in that He was willing to die IN OUR PLACE, for our sins, a death that we should have died.
Right now, the ministry that has been set before me is to travel to Cote d’Ivore, Ghana, Togo, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, to share of the gospel of the grace of God and I would love to share this with you.
**If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me! I would love to talk!
