Days pass on by. They turn into months. Those turn into years.
On my two mission trips to Kenya, although exahusting in every area, I felt like that was exactly what life is supposed to be about. Serving, loving, giving, and spreading the truth that God is real and that He loves you. As I head on to a totally different type of mission trip in a month and a half, I'm excited to get back on the mission field and put all of me into that.
Let's be real: going on a mission trip is fantastic and admirable and what we're called to do in the sense that God says to go to all the nations. I hugely applaud those who move to other countries or go for a summer to spread the gospel. But it's two weeks out of a year. (Or two months, whichever you go on.) Going overseas does not make the trip or the time more important, even though it does make you focus all your time, energy, and money on going. The thing is, we LIVE on a mission field, daily. And oh, what a challege that is. More so than going on mission trips almost. Even if you go on a mission trip every summer, if you don't live that lifestyle out the rest of the year, then you may just be wasting your life away. I can't imagine God asking me, "So how much time did you spend telling others about me?" "Oh well, you know, two weeks every year! I went all the way across the world to do that!" "What about the rest of the year? Where I placed you?"
When I finally got a job at Starbucks almost 6 months ago, (6 months ago?? Yep, it's that time flying by again. Sneaky time.) I wasn't thrilled. I was happy to get a job because I needed money, but that was it. But I asked God to use me where I am, and have continued to do so. And so my mission field is my daily life in those I work with. I work with all non-christians, or people who think they are because they believe God exists or they go to church on Christmas and Easter. I like most of the people I work with. I'm friends with some of them. I love some of them and am thankful for them. But if I could get one thing across to them in my time with working with them, it is that there is only ONE God, that Jesus is real and He died for our sins, and that the Bible is REAL. Not just a rule book, not a tool to judge people with. I've had a few conversations with them, but not much. And they simply think, "Oh, well cool for you. And this is what I believe..." I listen to some of them and think, "Well they will never find God. There's just no way. They don't believe He exists. They believe that all religions are good. They believe in reincarnation. They believe that there is no bad - everything in the whole wide world is ok." I act in a way that shows I am a Christian. I love in a way that shows I am a Christian. And at the end of the day I feel like every day is wasted because no progress is made, and it's the same thing every day.
It's tiring really. I don't want to think that none of them will ever know Him - what a depressing thought. I know it is all about God softening hearts, not my works that will bring them to Him. I know that I am simply one of those people planting seeds that I will never see the results from. I don't know how long God wants me in this place, but it is more difficult to show them God than it is when I go on a mission trip.
"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great PATIENCE and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all of the duties of your ministry." -2 Timothy 4:2-5
YES.
And besides where I work, what about my free time? Oooooh I love my free time. I know that I am all about enjoying it and am never bored. Going somewhere with friends, reading books, watching tv shows on my computer, facebook, pinterest, etc. So while my free time flies on by with the days too, I sometimes think... what if I spent more time doing something for Him? What though? Something more.
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tounge but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." -1 John 3:18 -20
On another note... I only raised $450 for Slovakia. My parents helped pay some on top of that, and I got some from the two fundrasiers we did, but I will have to pay $1,500 of the trip. Raising money for mission trips is so frustrating because some people raise all of their money and act like God will do that for everybody if you just believe or pray enough, but He doesn't. And it's not something that we will know the answer to why. I really hope the rest of my team can go... some are close to not going because they literally don't have the money. I have had some set aside for the trip - last summer I thought I was going to Kenya for this summer, so I started saving up over the past year, and then it turned into Slovakia money. So, I am for sure going.
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