When I was on staff with Campus Crusade, everything was about "going". As you can imagine. Going, sending, going, sending. Nothing wrong with that. I was there because that was where God wanted me at the time. But I'm not there now. I'm here. In my house in suburbia with my husband and children; homeschooling and being a child of the King, regardless of my rather obvious imperfections.
I remember during that long ago time (as a very young woman), struggling with the fact that my very Godly father wasn't a "missionary"...he was a "businessman"--just a businesssman. There was something in the environment in which I was entrenched that, though it was subtle and probably unintentional, suggested that unless you were on the "mission field", living on raised financial support, you were missing "the mark". It was then that I began to understand what the "mission field" really was and what it wasn't.
It wasn't elusive. It wasn't always in a foreign land. It wasn't for just the elite, or the unemployed. It wasn't just for the college graduate. It was in a music store in a small town. It was anywhere a person in submission to Christ was sharing His glory. Even if it wasn't with a little yellow booklet (The Four Spiritual Laws), but by word and deed. It was life in Christ.
In a recent article in Homeschooling Today magazine, there was an interview with Steve Saint. Remember him? Nate Saint's son? "End of the Spear"? Jim Elliot? The man who took his family to the jungles of Ecuador to minister to the tribe that murdered his father and five other men back in the 60's? Well, the article entitled, "Go, Make Disciples", by Mark Robinette, has several excellent quotes. One that really struck me was when he talked about how God gives us His Word, wise parents and counsel as our "fences", or boundaries and then God says (and this is Steve's quote), "'Here's your pasture.' Our job is to be faithful where He put us."
He then goes on to say, "Every assignment from God is an adventure worth taking seriously, whether it takes you to a jungle an office, or your own living room where you are teaching your children."
I love this assignment from God that I am on! He meets our daily needs. He encourages and teaches us daily. He guides, directs, strengthens, upholds us in His hands. He IS the Good Shepherd. And...He loves us. Apart from Him we are nothing. I'm grateful for my experiences in various mission "pastures", but I'm more thankful that I can teach these Biblical truths to my children.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Where You Are
The grass is not greener in any other pasture!
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2 comments:
Yes! I really appreciate this reminder. God is walking with me in this very issue right now.
So how did I miss this post earlier? :) Maybe it was supposed to simmer in my brain while I sleep.
The grass is not greener in any other pasture. Love that!!
I just wrote a letter about this last week for my brother-in-law. His wife compiled an album of letters on various topics from friends and family to present to him upon his graduation from med school. My assigned topic was missions which might seem funny since I've never been on a "missions trip." But this is exactly what I wrote about. The interesting thing is that he was on staff with Cru also and has often expressed the idea that you're not really serving the Lord fully if you're not in full-time ministry. Ha! I need to tweak it a bit and then I'll post it.
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