Welcome back to Assume the Best. If this is your first time, welcome to my little corner of the internet. One of my goals with this blog in addition to making you smile (or in the case of my wife–roll your eyes and chuckle) is to paint an accurate picture of life in a context where you have to raise support for a living. It’s easy for both missionaries and those who support them to lose perspective.
So if I can make you laugh at the silly stuff we do (on both sides), then there’s a better chance that you will see the big picture, and remember that what we are doing is worth the risk of miscommunication, frustration, and pain.
The truest thing about missions is that it is a voluntary surrender of your rights. A surrender to the fact that Jesus, who bought you with a price, is now using you to change the world, which means He can do with you whatever He wishes.
I’m so thankful for a vocation that taught me to surrender. If we’re honest, all of the Christian life ought to be characterized by the contents of the last paragraph. No matter if you are a misisonary or a bartender or barista or businessman, all of life ought to be a surrender of your rights to Jesus, if you are a Christian. So what a privilege to have a job that reminds me, holds out in front of me the fact that I am a servant, unable to claim any rights.
The way that happens most powerfully for me? Monetarily. I’m forced to recognize that despite my hardest work ever, I cannot make people give. I’m totally dependent on others. Raising support is God’s megaphone into my life declaring that he is in control, and that I am a servant.
It’s best that way. I’m sure of it.