The Mission

That’s the title of a song that I really liked back in high school, by a Christian artist by the name of Steve Green. And it came on cassette! Yes, it’s old! By sheer age itself, it can definitely be branded an ‘anthem’.

The lyrics of the song really grabbed me back those many many years ago, and from time to time, I still hum the chorus in the shower! The chorus still grabs me today for it reminds me that it is the love of God that makes our hearts tick for missions, and that everything we do springs from that relationship with Him. Mission is therefore not an obligation but a love-response to God! My prayer, echoing the words of the last verse, is that we like the candle become consumed by the passion for God, and that by burning to know Him deeper, we would radiate His glory to the nations!

Song words below, and I'm sure there would be some thing on Youtube.

~ Pete
____________________________
The Mission
By Steve Green

There's a call going out
Across the land in every nation
A call to those who swear allegiance to the cross of Christ
A call to true humility, to live our live responsibly
To deepen our devotion to the cross at any price

Let us then be sober, moving only in the Spirit
As aliens and strangers in a hostile foreign land
The message we're proclaiming is repentance and forgiveness
The offer of salvation to a dying race of man

Chorus:
To love the Lord our God
Is the heartbeat of our mission
The spring from which our service overflows
Across the street
Or around the world
The mission's still the same
Proclaim and live the Truth
In Jesus' name

As a candle is consumed by the passion of the flame
Spilling light unsparingly throughout a darkened room
Let us burn to know Him deeper
Then our service flaming bright
Will radiate his passions
And blaze with holy light

"How ARE you?"

Generally, before you can go on missions, you need to raise financial support and prayer. To do this, you go around churches and share with them your plans. This comes once your application is successful.

Financial and prayer support is important, but what about emotional support?

Having been on a short term mission before, I know that can be easier for people to pledge prayer and even financial support than it is to maintain emotional support. Yes, it's great to know that people are praying and that we have food on the table to eat, but it is also important to know that people haven’t forgotten you. When I was all by my lonesome self in Ethiopia last time (Pete was stationed in a rural part with only twice-daily publicly broadcasted radio contact), I remember wishing that people from home would email me. Having said all that, I too am guilty of not keeping in touch with missionary friends.

I've been feeling depressed and down lately. Feeling like nobody cares. I feel that no one cares enough to listen to me. Like talking to a brick wall. I'm feeling anti-social and hiding away from people.

This feels all too familiar. I've been here before. I was here years ago in my 'Dark Days'. I thought it was strange that this was happening again now. I thought I was better now. I thought I was over that. Out of the valley.

It all started when I got upset after what I felt was a lack of response from friends after sending out a message about how I was going. Is this what sending out missionary newsletters is like?

4 weeks on, and it finally dawned on me last night. This is a 'spiritual attack'. This is Satan's way of snuffing out my passion for missions, finally rekindled after being 'in the wilderness' for years. This is the first time I'd felt like this since my Dark Days, though not to the same degree. He's doing this now because things have been hotting up in the past few weeks as we began the application process to SIM. The devil is trying to bring me down because he knows this is where I'm vulnerable. My greatest weakness is the need for friends to show care. I was just sharing with my Bible Study group this week that I was worried because if I've been feeling depressed and 'friendless' now though I'm surrounded by friends, how then will I survive being away from all this in the middle of Africa?? How can I go on the mission field??

This is exactly what the Enemy wants me to feel!!

I know Jesus is my friend and he is all that I need, but sometimes I also just need to ‘see’ Jesus through people, to feel a hug, to hear a kind word.

So where to from here? I think it might be wise for us to begin to make plans to raise 'emotional support' for when we leave for Africa, to form a 'home support team', as suggested by a friend from my Bible Study group. We need to form a group of close friends who will pledge to maintain emotional support. I've heard that there are mission agencies out there who train up friends and family at home to care for missionaries, to educate them about the emotional peaks and troughs of missionary life, so people know how to show care. What a superb idea!

Perhaps part of the 'training' to care for the Ongs, would be for me to tell friends how I need to be cared for. Everyone perceives care differently. I'm sure people care, but people just have different ways of showing it. All I need is friends to sincerely asks me, from time to time, the simple question of "How ARE you?" and listen when I tell them. What I need is for friends to care and ask me how I'm going in the everyday things of life, not just when I'm in crisis mode. I don't need dinner made for me. I don’t need a babysitter. I just need a message. I don't need an essay, I just need a simple "how are you? thinking of you".

I know :o) As one of my close friends told Pete at our engagement party: "You know Jo's high maintenance, right?!!" :o)

I am, but like anything, the more effort you put in, the more satisfying the results :o)

Makki 14-01-2002

Gradually working through the Makki diary...
~Pete
____________________

Mon 14th January 2002

Went with Thomas to the Mursi Village on top of the hill in the afternoon. It was quite an experience to see all the huts, people especially the children playing. The people are really friendly and very curious about seeing me. They would marvel at my hair on my legs, chin and my facial features too! (Post entry note: The Mursi do not have facial hair nor do they have hair on their arms or legs so it was a facinating sight for them to see me).

The kids are very friendly and they seem to be so joyful all the time. Some of the kids I've met have the most beautiful smiles I have come across... It's a great lesson for me as I think of the 'western' culture I have come from... having so much yet people are so joyless... discontent. The kids here are content. They enjoy the simple things that they have. They have shown me a joy that I should have!

Photo: Mursi Kids

Was woken up this morning by noises on the roof. Wasn't sure at first what it was but found out that it was Bryon. He had some how managed to escape the front verandah and was trying to find his way back into the verandah enclosure. Had to wake up a few times until I finally was able to let him in. I think he was hungry and was looking for food! He would only eat mangos!

Photo: 'Bryon' the African Civet... the cause of many sleepless nights!

Going through the motions

I've been challenged lately during my Mums Bible Study group, about the concept of 'going through the motions' as a Christian. I can totally relate with that, having 'gone through the motions' myself. I remember my 'Christian high' days of doing lots and appearing on the surface to be godly, but on the inside, I was lacking in a daily personal relationship with my Saviour. People see the outside, but God sees what's inside.

I've always believed that missionaries are just ordinary Christians who are willing to work overseas, willing to sacrifice home comforts in order to serve God. Missionaries are just Christians, like me and you, who is open to God leading them to serve anywhere.

Some people put missionaries on a pedestal, like they are super Christians. Likewise with pastors. Maybe it's because I've grown up as a pastor's kid that I know that pastors are just ordinary people at home. They are people with the same struggles.

I don't want to go on a pedestal. When we become missionaries, I want people to realise that I am still the same old Jo. I will not grow a halo the day I step on the plane headed for Africa. I will still struggle with things I struggle with now, and I will still have my ups and downs.

I don't want to go on a pedestal, because then everybody is watching when you slip and fall. They expect you to stand tall and firm, incapable of falling. But on this side of heaven, we are all sinners and all capable of falling.

How often we see people who can 'act' and make all the right moves as Christians, but yet lacking the 'real stuff' on the inside? Being a missionary or a pastor or a Bible college student doesn't make you any more 'godly' than the humble church goer who dutifully sweeps the church steps every sunday. Being a missionary, or a pastor, or a Bible College student is just a CHOICE that we make with our fallen human minds. Anybody can decide with their minds to do these things. But it is much harder to actually have a genuine heart that seeks to please God.

I think what matters is not so much that you appear to have it all together on the outside, to be 'perfect' - because no one is until the day of Jesus' return, but that you show and have a genuine desire to walk with God and live by his grace each day. As Christians, it's not that we don't fall, but that when we fall, we can be sure that God is there to catch us.

I recently saw a poster outside a church that I thought was really clever, it read: "Don't let Christians put you off Jesus."

Only by looking to Jesus can you really know him, if you look to people, they will inevitably fall and let you down.

I hope when we serve in Africa in a few years time, I can help people see Jesus clearly. That I won't just go through the motions of being a missionary. That people will see that I am a fallen being living by God's grace and strength each day. That I am just like them. That my God is what carries me through my struggles, not me.

~Jo