I just returned from the Dominican Republic. Mission trips always cause me to stop and look around when I return to America. I had the joy of speaking at a couple of different churches while I was there. The interpreter was essential and yet it caused me to pause after each sentence. For a guy that is wired like me, that was extremely difficult. I was bound by the conditions that surrounded me . If I had taken the time to learn Spanish and really invested in that language I would've felt pretty good about speaking in those churches. Once I return to the USA, I get the usual questions..how was your trip?...How was the mission?....then someone usually says to me, "I wish I could go on one of your trips". It causes an internal cringe because I know where this conversation is headed. I will respond with "o.k., let's go"..they will say "Well I have too much going on, job, kids, sports, the house, the yard, the family, the pets, the weather, their age, their health, their whatever...Which I gently try to say,"none of that matters if you really want to go". It gets down to choices. A person chooses to buy more and more stuff (with payments of course) and this cause them to be a prisoner to their job. "I have to work to pay for my stuff". I get that. I really do. Yet somewhere in all of the excuses we find for NOT serving on a mission or getting involved in a local ministry, there is also the truth of choice. Here is a great example. If a person hears that their favorite band is going to be coming to town, they get excited, they work extra to pay the ticket, they work overtime so that they can take time off on the day of the event, they do without something so that they have the money to go. Football, NASCAR, Movies, VACATIONS, you pick it and you will ultimately find what is truly being worshiped. We find a way for that which we love the most. Not easy to hear , not easy to change but if we are honest with ourselves, really honest, we are prisoners of the life we live....
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AuthorAuthor of Ashes to Ashes:9/11 and soon to be completed "Compelled". An ordinary guy who likes to live life out of the comfort zone. Archives
December 2016
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