A Life in Mission

Atlanta… Asia.

I wonder what I would have said if 10 years ago someone would have told me that I would be traveling internationally doing mission work to countries around the world… I probably wouldn’t have believed it.

I’m sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to Bangkok. It’s my first time on Korean Air. It will be my first experience on a larger Asian airline. I look forward to arriving in Bangkok.

This time I’m not traveling alone. The Woods are sitting close by with two other families. There are a few others coming as well. All in all we will total 27. We haven’t been able to see the whole way clear from the beginning but in making the next step, God opens the way. It is an exercise in faith…

In 2 weeks we are going to India… There will be a series of meetings, and we want to visit the children schools as well.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

It was such a crazy year! And amazing at the same time. I remember back to when I first arrived in Nairobi. I didn’t know the town, or the people, or much of the way things worked there. During the following 10 months that would certainly change!

Shooting video, making graphics, managing editing and production, working with few volunteers, coordinating with other people (sometimes a challenge!), learning how to work with people, going to record a huge series of meetings in Tanzania, getting equipment for broadcasting, setting up the equipment and testing it, preparing video content for broadcast, managing burnout, depending on God, continuing work and production, managing production and broadcasting, making playlists for each day’s broadcast, working hard editing as a volunteer for the Gospel Flames HopeTV event in Uganda, seeing the time come for us to pay the 2CBN broadcasting bill, seeing God work, seeing the wrath of the enemy, my computer stolen, proof that God is faithful, seeing people come to assist, and finally being able to hand over management to Frank. A blessed year, and yet the hardest in my life. Something I’d never done before, yet something I could never have done without God’s help. Times when I wished for death, but other times when I was glad I didn’t. Extreme loneliness, yet learning to trust God more…  2012 was indeed an extreme growing experience for me!

Shortly before I left in Dec, I thought about what would have happened if I didn’t go there in the first place. It brought tears to my eyes as I realized that everything I saw… from the programs broadcasting on the TV to the studio and the team… none of it would exist if I wouldn’t have gone. Souls that have seen our programming would have been lost if I didn’t go.

Perhaps…  God is calling you to go to some far away place to work as a missionary, to be a pioneer in His cause. Is He calling you? Then don’t delay! If you delay, souls will be lost. If you go, then you will have the privilege of being a tool in God’s hands and being used by Him. There is nothing ever in this whole world that can amount to the satisfaction of reflecting back and realizing that God used you as a tool in His hands to reach people for Him. There is nothing like it!

Jonathan had arrived. His trip was a long one with many layovers, but he finally made it to Nairobi. My brother had decided to come and help with the media work that needed to be done in East Africa.

For some moments I sit, perusing Facebook and Google Plus. Lately, I had found such encouragement there. It seemed that it used to be that I was alone in promoting mission work and the work yet to be done in places yet to hear of the Gospel message. There was a time where it seemed that so few of my friends were involved in missions. When I left for my first mission trip, very few of my friends were in foreign missions.

But now… this is changing. Added to work in Thailand are whole families gone to the field devoting their time energies to sharing Jesus. I think of the two girls from my local church who are now working in Cambodia at a school, showing and sharing Jesus with their students. I think of others who left their own plans and desires aside and went to work in places of greatest need. But this is only part of the change that I’ve noticed.

In the last 9 months, throughout this trial of having no replacement in my work, and not fulfilling the personal burden that God gave me of sharing the need of missions through media, I have gathered courage from the Facebook and Google Plus posts of my friends who are catching the vision. In times when I seemed almost ready to give up, and too tired and exhausted to continue, the posts showing the vision of reaching the unreached coming from those in my circle of friends gave me strength to continue. It has really given me joy to see others in my circle of friends and even beyond personally picking up the burden of foreign mission work in unreached fields at the expense of their own personal dreams and plans. And yet, something still troubles me…

There are so many souls who are perishing without the Water of life. Many would receive Him if they knew of Him. True there are more labourers going into the harvest, but it’s not enough! There should be a thousand where today there is but one. If only every Bible believing Christian would feel that it is their responsibility to share Jesus with everyone they can, and not just the people who already know about Him. So many places are without any Christian influence, and even though the number of missionaries is increasing our time is rapidly decreasing. The time we have left to work is short! There is no time for delay! Delay will cost us… not money, but souls! And so although I see more missionaries going into foreign and unreached fields, my soul cries for many more labourers because the time left in which to work is so short! The night is rapidly approaching. Blessed are those who sincerely repeat and act on Isaiah’s words: “Here am I Lord, Send me.” Isa 6:8

And so even when our energy is gone, and our strength seems to have disappeared, we must continue for just a little longer. The energy may be gone, the strength may seem zapped, and our vision may feel dimmed, but we must continue for the sake of the souls who God has commissioned us to save. If we but continue working a little longer, we shall find rest in the hereafter when the work is finished and we have gone home.

“Wheh, Muzungu! You have a bomb!” A young man shouts at me, standing by the parked car with his friends.

“Oh. It’s water.” He says when he got a closer look at my water bottle hanging from my backpack. The dark color of the bottle made it hard to see the contents.

I didn’t even slow my pace as I walked by. I wasn’t about to start talking to these young men. “You never know what will happen in downtown Nairobi!” I think to myself. From people coming up to me in the middle of the street just trying to start conversation to beggars there are so many things to get you sidetracked from the things that you are there to do. I remember the countless times that someone had come up to me and begged for something…
“Hello! You’re from America?” “How is Kenya?” “You’re not cold? How do you like the climate here?” These are just some of the questions that are asked along the street by individuals that just seem anxious to talk to an foreigner. Other times someone will just come and try to shake hands like they are an old friend…

The danger with this is that once someone starts talking to you then it appears that you know them and I understand that often they will try to grab for something in your pocket, perhaps your phone, or money, or anything else they can grab. When I first came it was hard not to talk to people, but now with all the work that I’ve been having to do and the experience I have had, it’s different. When they come and try to talk, I just keep walking being careful in case they grab at something. If someone is begging, I sometimes give something.

______________________________________________________

I see in these situations an object lesson. When we are in the walk of life, there are many things to distract us. The devil takes advantage of everything he can. Distractions may come in form of people, but often they come in the form of things such as money, and material things, sometimes even comfort. We become absorbed in the things that we think will give us satisfaction… But the reality is that these things actually detour us from our destination. Instead of becoming distracted by the things of this life, we must always keep our eye single toward one purpose… That of keeping on the strait and narrow way, and bringing along as many others as we can.

Another thing that we can learn from these scenarios is that some people want to just get your attention and distract you, while others are actually needy. Sometimes it may be difficult to tell which is which, but there are still people who have never caught a glimpse of the strait and narrow Way. They are shut up in spiritual darkness. They have no option, no choice, and unless someone helps them they will continue that way forever! These ones deserve our time and effort to bring them into the Way.

Oh that God would give us discernment to see between the ones that are needy and the others. If we could just catch a glimpse of the world the way that God sees it.