A Free Book, Some Free Thoughts, and a Sneak Peek into my Near Future

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. There are various reasons: life has been busy with the new semester, books have sucked me into their stories, and more. But the biggest reason I haven't blogged lately is that so many thoughts have been swimming around in my head, and I just don't know what to share or how. I have had multiple ideas to share, but there's been such a back-up, I didn't know where to start. So, you can be expecting more posts in the coming week, but for now, we'll just tackle the first thought.

A few weeks ago, I finished reading Finish the Mission. It's a compilation of sermons from Desiring God about the importance of world missions. You can find a FREE COPY of the pdf here. It's a great book with lots of great quotes.

Some of those quotes are:

• "At the end of the day, global missions is about the worship of this spectacular Jesus. The goal of missions is the worldwide worship of the God-man by his redeemed people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The outcome of missions is all peoples delighting to praise Jesus. And the motivation for missions is the enjoyment that his people have in him. Missions aims at, brings about, and is fueled by the worship of Jesus." (David Mathis, page 14)
• "Christians are not at their leisure... We are not at our leisure. Rather we are under the mandate of the grace of God - grace that found us, restored us, redeemed us, breathed life back into our dormant lungs, and brought us back from the grave for a purpose. And that purpose is that we would, with everything in us, become an amplifier of the beauty of Jesus among all the peoples on this planet. This mission is crystal clear." (Louie Giglio, 30)
• "As you feel the weight of your lostness that drives you to God's grace, feel that weight for people who have enough knowledge of God to show them they are lost but nothing more. Over 2.5 billion people have just enough knowledge of God to damn them to hell." (David Platt, 63)
• "This gospel is powerful. That is why you can go with confidence to the hardest, most difficult places and peoples on the planet... So no matter how challenging it may seem, we preach the gospel, knowing that someone in every people group is going to respond in faith. Indeed, there is not a people group on the planet that is beyond the power of God to save. And people who believe this cannot sit on this gospel. People who believe this will eagerly leave their comforts and gladly give their lives proclaiming the gospel among the nations." (David Platt, 64-65)
• "There is coming a day when our scandalous Savior and sovereign King will return, and he will surround himself with a throng from every people, nation, tribe, and tongue. We will see his face, and together we will be glad in his glory. This is the definitive reason why we rise and say without condition and regardless of cost, 'Here we are, Lord, send us.' This is what we live for. This is what we die for. Indeed, this is why we have breath." (David Platt, 65)
• "Our goal is not to conserve our lives at any cost but rather to live our life in obedience to the call we have received. We are not called to ignore risk or to be reckless. Everything must be prayerfully considered. But to refuse God's call to go because of hardship is to demand something that the apostles would struggle to recognize as part of genuine Christian obedience." (Michael Ramsden, 70)
• "The outcome of our own lives is unknown to us, but it is known to God. So we may have great confidence in the errands in which he sends us." (Michael Ramsden, 81)
• "'Your will be done' is a prayer for God's revealed will to be done, and an essential way that God's will is done and honored is when God's people obey -- when we live out the purposes of God in our lives, when we live for God, in every aspect of our lives, with love for God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength." (Michael Oh, 90)
• "May God grant us the grace to serve with undeniable, unshakable, illogical, and foolish passion for the hallowing of God's name and the building of his global kingdom." (Michael Oh, 109).

And there are plenty of other wonderful quotes. Basically, you should really download the book. It's free! Why not take advantage of that?

Finish the Mission reminded me that there are plenty of places in the world where the majority of people are hopeless because no one has heard about Jesus. Last month, I sat on the beach watching the waves and reading about those people, and I wanted to weep for them. They don't know Jesus; they don't even know ABOUT Jesus. It made me want to go and tell them. Finish the Mission made me want to go and love them.

Now, there's a few problems with that:

The first is that I miss home. I wholeheartedly want to return to South Dakota. I want to live in Sioux Falls, be a Young Life leader, and work for a nonprofit and transform Sioux Falls. Living in Sioux Falls, SD and going to the ends of the earth aren't exactly the same thing (even though they can both involve following Jesus and serving God).

The second problem is that this year in Ghana, this year of going and telling, has been harder than I anticipated. I've spent more time resenting it than rejoicing in it and loving it. Being gone has been hard, and being in Ghana's climate and culture has been hard. I'm afraid of other places being hard too. The difficulty of this year makes me want to go home even more than I would otherwise.

But even though there are problems with this desire to go, I know it's right. I just can't consider spending next year in the US and maintain a clear conscience; I believe God is asking me to step out in faith and do something else. And so it's with many mixed feelings, that I announce that next year, I'll be going. Next year, I'll work toward finishing the mission on the mission field. I honestly don't know where I will be, but I will be interning with Cru again. Right now, I'm considering either returning to Ghana or going throughout Eastern Europe and Russia where very few people know Jesus.

I selfishly want to go home, but I know that my life is not my own. And God's slowly been making it clear that He has more for me overseas. I could go home. I could follow my own desires, but God's word makes it clear that it's not worth it. He's asking me to follow him. And I need to trust that whatever He has in store for me is better than I could ever hope for or achieve on my own. So I'm trusting Him.

God will help me raise my support this summer; He'll help me reface the challenge that was so, so difficult last summer. He'll make it clear in the next few weeks just where I should be next year. He'll show me more of Himself through it all. God is a good, good Dad. He cares. He knows how much my heart hurts by this call, and He'll prove Himself faithful again through it.

I want to help finish the mission. I want the world to know about the hope of the loving Savior. I want the hopeless in the world to have the hope and the joy that I have. It's worth sharing. It's worth "losing" the possibility of another year at home. Jesus is worth it. He's worth losing my life so that I can find it in Him.