The other day, Cody commented on the Bait and Switch post with a hilarious insight into what often happens in conversation for missionaries. Here’s his comment:
Thanks for letting that particular feline out of the bag, Cody. Your sarcastic comment has singlehandedly undermined centuries of work by secret missionary organizations. For hundreds of years we have labored to ensure there be a distinction in worth between ministers and lay people. We nearly lost control during the reformation, with Luther (that traitor) pulling the mask off of us with ruthless abandon. Our only goal is to continue to have people think that we are more valuable because we work “full time” for the Lord.
You work at a office building writing ad copy for an internet publisher nobody has ever heard of, in a cubicle next to a guy with halitosis and a Len Goodman bobble-head doll? Oh, I work for Jesus, as a fisher of men. The pay’s not great, but the benefits are out of this world. (terrible joke credit)
Yep, just this morning I helped in an eternal struggle where I pushed back the spiritual forces of darkness on the face of American college campuses. Before you took your first coffee break, I had by faith clutched a sinner by his collar and plucked him from the twisted claws of the enemy of souls, transferring him to the kingdom of light. Hope the coffee was good.
What’s that? You find that your mission field is your coworkers at the Denny’s where you’ve been a waitress for 13 years? Hardly compares to the front-lines ministry we experience combatting the evils of agnostic post-Christian culture in the halls of academia. Plus, we talk to 18-year olds. They’re smart.
Sure, you might have heard that lie that you are going to be the most effective missionary to the people in your circle of influence, or that God wants you to “bloom where you are planted.” The truth is, you need to water my plant, and I’ll take care of all your blooming. Let the professionals do the heavy lifting.
It’s going to be tough for me to talk shop with the electrical engineers where you work, but I took an Intro to Physics class for two hours before I dropped it for an advanced Philosophy class, in college. I should be able to hang. And regardless, once we transition the conversation from all your fancy “gonna burn in the ash heap of eternity” engineer talk, I’ll be able to wow him with theological precision that would make CS Lewis ovate and in turn call others to ovate, because that’s what we naturally do, we praise, and then we call others to join us in that praise. (That’s a CS Lewis allusion within a CS Lewis reference. Boom.)
Yeah, leave it to me. You just continue making enough money to finance my evangelism fetish. I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more booklets full of life-changing goodness. But somebody’s gotta pay for those booklets. That’s where you come in.
You be the pharmacist filling the prescription for my evangelism fever, and send in your monthly check.
As vocations go, there’s none more important than minister, right?