You have been partly privy to it. You've seen the reflection of changes in my life. How experiences - gifts from God - have shaped, redirected my life.
You can recap if you like:
Ok, I'm ready! Except, I'm not...
Rewind: Israel
Israel Rewind Part 2
Hobbits, Koreans, and Courage
Middle East, Episode II
Arrival
Seeds
Over the last couple years, my desire to serve long-term for God's Kingdom has been growing, gradually but steadily overcoming my desires to do anything else. When I got back from Wales, I had a swell plan: get a nice job with my nice degrees, make money for a couple years, then go. Except, I was having a really hard time finding a job. And my heart wasn't into it. And the thought of doing the 9-to-5 for two years while my true desires were elsewhere was seriously depressing.
You see, I was approaching it wrong. I thought 1) I need to be a " financially responsible and respectable individual" before I can be a crazy missionary, 2) I need to get my house in order before I give it to God, 3) Work is separate from mission. I still wanted to go....I was just, well, sidetracked.
A few months ago I had the honor of fellowshipping (it's a word, ok?) with a leader of the Chinese house-church movement. If you know what Back to Jerusalem is, you've probably heard of him. A few of my closest friends and I got to have dinner and spend quality with him. At the end of the night he put his hands on us and prayed for us. This man, who has suffered for Jesus like the apostles, who laughs and emanates the Spirit, prayed for us. Prayed for our service to the Kingdom, on the mission field.
And I thought, what am I doing? If I feel God calling me, why am I still frittering away my life on "man's empty praise"? It's time to be obedient.
When he walked the earth, Jesus didn't call only people with respectable jobs, people who had it all together, and he didn't call people to follow him part-time. He called people out of their respectable jobs, he called people without jobs, he called people with menial or really terrible jobs, and he said, "Leave it all and follow me." He called people to give up their old lives and live a new one entirely for him. He still does that.
God has blessed me with the opportunity to get hands-on training in a city that I love with people that I love while doing a job that I love. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm moving to Alabama in June to start all this. As a big dreamer, I do a lot of talking about the things that I'm going to do. It's time to stop talking and start doing.
You can recap if you like:
Ok, I'm ready! Except, I'm not...
Rewind: Israel
Israel Rewind Part 2
Hobbits, Koreans, and Courage
Middle East, Episode II
Arrival
Seeds
Over the last couple years, my desire to serve long-term for God's Kingdom has been growing, gradually but steadily overcoming my desires to do anything else. When I got back from Wales, I had a swell plan: get a nice job with my nice degrees, make money for a couple years, then go. Except, I was having a really hard time finding a job. And my heart wasn't into it. And the thought of doing the 9-to-5 for two years while my true desires were elsewhere was seriously depressing.
You see, I was approaching it wrong. I thought 1) I need to be a " financially responsible and respectable individual" before I can be a crazy missionary, 2) I need to get my house in order before I give it to God, 3) Work is separate from mission. I still wanted to go....I was just, well, sidetracked.
A few months ago I had the honor of fellowshipping (it's a word, ok?) with a leader of the Chinese house-church movement. If you know what Back to Jerusalem is, you've probably heard of him. A few of my closest friends and I got to have dinner and spend quality with him. At the end of the night he put his hands on us and prayed for us. This man, who has suffered for Jesus like the apostles, who laughs and emanates the Spirit, prayed for us. Prayed for our service to the Kingdom, on the mission field.
And I thought, what am I doing? If I feel God calling me, why am I still frittering away my life on "man's empty praise"? It's time to be obedient.
When he walked the earth, Jesus didn't call only people with respectable jobs, people who had it all together, and he didn't call people to follow him part-time. He called people out of their respectable jobs, he called people without jobs, he called people with menial or really terrible jobs, and he said, "Leave it all and follow me." He called people to give up their old lives and live a new one entirely for him. He still does that.
God has blessed me with the opportunity to get hands-on training in a city that I love with people that I love while doing a job that I love. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm moving to Alabama in June to start all this. As a big dreamer, I do a lot of talking about the things that I'm going to do. It's time to stop talking and start doing.
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