Back from Ethiopia
I’m currently in Seattle trying to process one of the more frantic months of my life.
I just returned from Soddo, Ethiopia, after leading a small team of college students to come alongside a gospel-centered ministry called the Mossy Foot Project. You can track some of the details of our trip on the team blog.
I want to point out three things that impacted me the most:
Radical opportunities
There are impoverished people everywhere who need the gospel in word and deed. This is the God-graced benefit of being born in a wealthy country: EVERYONE needs us. Since there is no shortage of needs in the world then, the mission should start with the call to a specific person(s) or place, and not be driven by the needs, which are endless. Even Jesus was called only to the lost sheep of Israel in the sovereign timing of His Father [Matt 15:24].
Radical moves of God
There are still miracles working in underdeveloped countries.
Radical people
I ran into people younger than me, who were in Ethiopia longer than me, and had no rushed plans to leave. What they did leave was the comfort of their own lives in posh California, and I couldn’t shake the fact that there are still people out there who want to live a servants life, and die a servants death for the glory of God.
I understand why… It’s because they found obedience to God to be much more fulfilling, breath-taking, and satisfying than sitting at home worrying about tomorrow. They no longer think of packing their bags as a loss, but as a blessing.
I think it was David Livingstone who once said “I never made a sacrifice.”
Of course, he sacrificed EVERYTHING for the call of God. But in his own perspective, he lost NOTHING of true value. Oh, how I desire to say “I never made a sacrifice” with authenticity.
My point: There are real opportunities for the works of God to be done by willing people everywhere.
So far, that tops any job description I’ve ever applied for.
I just returned from Soddo, Ethiopia, after leading a small team of college students to come alongside a gospel-centered ministry called the Mossy Foot Project. You can track some of the details of our trip on the team blog.
I want to point out three things that impacted me the most:
Radical opportunities
There are impoverished people everywhere who need the gospel in word and deed. This is the God-graced benefit of being born in a wealthy country: EVERYONE needs us. Since there is no shortage of needs in the world then, the mission should start with the call to a specific person(s) or place, and not be driven by the needs, which are endless. Even Jesus was called only to the lost sheep of Israel in the sovereign timing of His Father [Matt 15:24].
Radical moves of God
There are still miracles working in underdeveloped countries.
- We saw with our own eyes, as the blind eyes of a woman opened after WE laid hands on her (among others being healed)
- We experienced demonic oppression being broken
- Etc.
Radical people
I ran into people younger than me, who were in Ethiopia longer than me, and had no rushed plans to leave. What they did leave was the comfort of their own lives in posh California, and I couldn’t shake the fact that there are still people out there who want to live a servants life, and die a servants death for the glory of God.
I understand why… It’s because they found obedience to God to be much more fulfilling, breath-taking, and satisfying than sitting at home worrying about tomorrow. They no longer think of packing their bags as a loss, but as a blessing.
I think it was David Livingstone who once said “I never made a sacrifice.”
Of course, he sacrificed EVERYTHING for the call of God. But in his own perspective, he lost NOTHING of true value. Oh, how I desire to say “I never made a sacrifice” with authenticity.
My point: There are real opportunities for the works of God to be done by willing people everywhere.
So far, that tops any job description I’ve ever applied for.
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