"God loves you. He always has and he always will," Dr. Asa Barnes told new World Race squads as tears welled up in his eyes. "As you travel the world these next 11 months, learn how to say that in every language you can. Speak it to those who have turned their backs on him. Speak it to those that have not met him yet."
This reassurance of God's love brought peace to World Racers at October's Training Camp. As Dr. and Mrs. Barnes (parents of Adventures in Missions founder Seth Barnes) spoke these words, missionaries of the past, present, and future could identify. At some level, we can all identify.
When the truth of God's love resides deep within your heart, it's much easier to trust and say,
"Yes Lord! I will follow wherever you lead."
God's love is the context in which the Barnes family operates. It is why they feel safety in risk. It is why they spend their lives living missionally. They know that they serve a God who has always loved and taken care of them, and he will always will.
Adventures in Missions was founded with that idea in mind.
After years of university and jobs and business school and more mission trips, Seth felt the call to start Adventures in Missions. Not only was he starting a non-profit in his garage by faith, but he had five other mouths to feed. It all seemed a little impossible.
Seth discovered that following God's plan wasn't easy. But with God's love and his parents' support, Seth knew it was right. God doesn't always call us to easy. He doesn't always call us to safety. But our ever-loving God does call us to himself.
Long before Adventures in Missions began, Dr. Barnes went away to fight in the Vietnam War, and won awards for his compassion and innovation in military medicine.
Dr. Barnes commitment to serving others and his wife's faith in God's provision and protection created an environment where their family could trust God's plan completely. And when Seth had the idea to change the world from his garage, his parents were the first to come alongside and support him.
Not only did Dr. and Mrs. Barnes make a commitment to invest in Adventures, but they followed the call on their own lives to the mission field. For 17 years, they spent four months every year in Kenya and Vietnam where God used Dr. Barnes' experience and skills as a world-renown pathologist to bring healing to the nations, and brought love and encouragement to the missionary wives and communities there through Mrs. Barnes.
The Barnes family knows the character of their God:
He is good.
He is sovereign.
He is safe.
And above all, he is loving.
That's why this last week at World Race Training Camp, three generations of Barnes came together to continue to bring the kingdom of a loving God to earth. And to remind the multi-generational crowd that the same loving God that has taken care of the Barnes family will take care of them.
How will you let God take care of you today?
