No Big Deal

Visa applications, doctors' appointments, vaccinations, a year's supply of medication, purchasing insurance, international credit cards, an international driver's license. All of these were items on my to-do list this week. My life has been so full and intense the past few weeks that I felt that it's kind of a big deal to move to another country. 

Not only is there so much to do in preparation, but there is also much to do once I get to Burkina Faso. This also feels like a big deal: starting a center for infants in distress, starting a medical clinic, serving as a missionary nurse...

Sometimes the pressure gets a little too high. Maybe I place it on myself, or maybe it is unintentionally placed on me by others. I just wonder if sometimes people put foreign missionaries on a pedestal. Let me just bring things back to real life. 

Contrary to popular belief, I am not going to Africa to save the world. I won't be working in a clinic the day that I arrive. I won't be saving lives within the first week. In fact, I won't even be an awesome disciple-maker from the beginning. As someone told me this week, "when you get off the plane, you will be a two year old." I will have to learn the language and culture as a toddler would.

That same person said, "Being a missionary is not about doing, it is about being."

It's about being a Jesus-follower in a culture with few believers. It's about loving the Lord and obeying him where he has placed you, listening to his voice day by day, and doing whatever he asks you to do for that day. It's not about projects and getting stuff done; it's about people and living life with them. 

In reality, is it any different here in the United States? Is your responsibility any different than mine? Read that last paragraph again like it was written to describe you. Because it was. The "missionary call" is not just for foreign missionaries, but for every believer in Jesus. As Hudson Taylor put it, "the great commission is not an option to be considered, but a command to be obeyed."

I am going to Africa to simply live life, serve others, do some nursing, make friends, and make disciples by sharing the gospel and telling them about Jesus. But you know what? I am going out of my house in Little Rock, Arkansas, today to do the very same thing. You are going out of your house today to do the very same thing whenever God has placed you. 

So let's meet up in a year, and you may have more stories to tell than me. 

I have spent so much time thinking this move to Africa is a big deal. It kind of is, but it's kind of not. My life will change in a lot of ways, but not so much in other ways. I am still a Christian, just living life trying to serve others and get to know people so I can share Jesus with them. So really, it's not that big of a deal. I am simply going to live there and be a Christian there. Just like you are doing here. As I am being sent out, I send you out. 

Jesus commanded all of his followers to go and make disciples. This means we wake up every day with the mission to share the gospel and disciple others. And it doesn't look like being a hero and saving the world. It looks like going to work, attending classes at school, meeting people along the way and making friends, and then using those relationships to share the fantastic news about Jesus. 

Making disciples is an every day deal. It's the same for me when I wake up in Africa as it is for you when you wake up in Little Rock. When we commit to letting God use us, when we commit to being bold about sharing our faith - He will prepare us, equip us, and use us to advance his kingdom in our cities and to the nations. 

Now that's a big deal.