No material things?!

During my long car rides home from Salem to Blaine, I listen to a fairly wide selection of music.  Feeling really bored with all my current additions to my ipod, I decided to go back to the good old days.  You know, to see what the 14 or 16 year-old Jill liked to listen to.  I was listening to the song Good Life by Audio Adrenaline when I heard these lyrics:

            “What good would it be

            if you had everything

            but what you didn’t have

            was the only thing you need.”

Hmm.  I don’t recall the 14 year-old Jill making much of a connection with those lyrics.  In fact, I don’t remember the pre-teen me ever really hearing them.  But as I heard them as the current 22 year-old Jill that I am, I found new meaning. 

From the time I became a Christian to the age of 21, my idea of a mission trip was probably similar to most other people’s idea of a mission trip: building houses, making wells for villages to get clean water, and bringing shoes to children in Africa.  Right?  Maybe not completely right. 

Mission trips, in my mind, were about building and bringing people things… material things.  Giving people more comfort.  More material comfort.  Bringing people joy.  Material joy. 

When I was invited to take part in a mission trip this past summer, I was confused why Reign Ministries did not send out mission trips that built houses, brought clean water, and gave comfort to the hurting people of these foreign countries.  What kind of a mission trip was this?  No material things?!  Nope, no material things.  Reign Ministries goes out with a specific purpose: to bring people to Christ. 

What good would a house be if the people living in it never came to know salvation?  What good would clean water be without eternal life?  Doing acts of service like this is a great thing that makes a tremendous impact on the lives of those people, and can be a segue into sharing the gospel.  But the key is to keep the focus on the eternal. 

So maybe mission trips aren’t about building “things.”  Maybe mission trips actually have nothing to do with life on earth.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Matthew 6:19-20. 

As I spent my summer preparing for the mission trip and going to dozens of villages in Costa Rica, my idea of a mission trip changed drastically.  Mission trips are about changing lives eternally, not about giving a material change.  It’s not bad to build houses for people who don’t have them, or give a couple of poor Costa Rican girls your candy, but the focus should be on the eternal.  Like the wise lyrics of Audio Adrenaline reminded me, what good is it to have everything but to not have the only thing you need?

So what about life back in the states?  A lot of people here have pretty much all they could ever want… what many of them lack is the only thing they really need.  We don’t have to worry about building houses for our neighbors who have 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and beautiful backyards.  What we do have to worry about is the eternal.  “Missions” are everywhere.  People everywhere are missing the thing they really need.  You can be a missionary, too.  Build relationships with people, pray for them, share your eternal hope with them.  Help them find the one thing they really need.  

If you’re at all interested in Reign Ministries, I would encourage you to visit their site (and download an application for a mission trip!)  http://reignministries.org/

Costco sized bag of spinach

Along with the two bags of frozen spinach I bought at WinCo (which have since been turned into purée), I bought a Costco sized bag of spinach with my roommate.  Needless to say, I have been eating a lot of spinach lately.  I have spinach salads, spinach sandwiches, spinach soup, sautéed spinach, spinach sloppy joes, and even made brownies (two batches) out of my puréed spinach.  If I can find a way to put spinach in it, I will. 

It began as an effort to be healthier, turned into a need to use up my surplus of spinach before it goes bad, and has ended in an actual desire to have spinach in nearly all my foods. 

Like my recent affinity for spinach, which began as a chore, turned into a necessity, and resulted in a genuine “passion” (as much as you can have “passion” for spinach), my faith gone through a similar cycle. 

I remember accepting Christ into my heart out of a desire to be “healthier.”  I wanted to be saved from my sins and God was the answer.  As I grew in my walk with Christ, I began to recognize the need I had for genuine and true faith.  Like I put spinach in everything, Christ suddenly became the necessary ingredient to everything in my life.  As time passed and this became a habit, I noticed a sincere desire to have Christ as the driving force of my life.  I recognized the true goodness it brought.

I like spinach.  I like the way it tastes, I like knowing it provides me with good nutrition, I like that it can easily be added to most meals. 

I’m in love with my Savior.  I find comfort in knowing the salvation He provides is certain and unwavering.  I rejoice in knowing that He has created me with careful thought.  I find peace in knowing that He wills good for my life and watches over me at all times. 

Eventually, I will come to the end of my mammoth sized bag of spinach.  The nutrient-rich, leafy goodness will disappear (and I will probably buy another bag).  But my faith will never run out.  In fact, it has the reverse effect: the more I use and lean upon my faith, the greater it grows. 

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).

Urgent flurry of wannabe photographers

I recently went to the beach at sunset to snap a few pictures.  Seems like a peaceful endeavor, right?  Wrong.  I arrived at the parking lot to find people running in all directions with cameras, tripods, and baby strollers.  I never imagined such chaos in the midst of a seemingly calm and beautiful event.  Their sense of urgency inspired me to pull into a parking spot with little care, tear open the camera bag, hop out of my car, and run to the waterfront. 

I arrived at the beach at exactly 4:11pm and had time to take about 20 pictures before the sunset a little before 4:20.  In hindsight, without that urgent flurry of wannabe photographers, I probably would’ve waited to hear the end of the song playing on my ipod, lollygagged my way to the beach, and missed the whole thing. 

Sometimes there’s a need for urgency.  Far too many of us lollygag our way through life.  We think we have all the time in the world, no need to rush.  But when in it comes to our mission here on earth, we are in need of some urgency! 

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19)

We have been asked to go and make disciples.  What does this mean?  It means we are called to go out and share the gift of salvation with people.  So when are we supposed to do this?  According to 2 Corinthians 6:2, “NOW is the time.” 

There is no certainty in the days we have here on earth.  But one thing is certain: Jesus will come back without any warning.  Are there people you know who are not saved?  Have you shared with them how to find salvation?  If not, then we need to grasp the sense of urgency we are called to. 

“For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2)  Jesus’ return is imminent.  There are two possible ways our lives will come to an end: we will die, or Jesus will return.  One of the two is rapidly approaching.

Don’t be the lollygagger who misses the sunset, or who misses the opportunity to share salvation with the people we encounter.  Not all of us will travel to Africa, China, Latvia, or Korea to be missionaries.  That is OK.  But all of us live in communities with people desperately seeking a better way.  Don’t waste your time because the sun is quickly setting.