The Universal Call to Mission

On my personal blog I have posted an article titled:

The Universal Call to Mission

It speaks of something I have recently learned concerning God's call to missions, and his command for us to preach the Gospel to those who have never heard. Don't think you're called to mission? Think again.

The Aftermath

Tomorrow will mark two weeks since I returned home from Africa. It has been a difficult and busy few weeks, getting back into the routine here at home, starting school, and beginning college applications. My schedule seems to be fuller and busier than it has ever been, and the time I have to myself seems to be disappearing. My trip this summer changed my life, no doubt about it, but I am slightly at a loss as to what I am supposed to do now. I feel as though I hang in limbo between a life-changing experience and ordinary life. I am continuing my daily devotions, I am doing everything I should, but each morning I wake up with a feeling that I cannot describe.

It is neither joy nor sorrow, it is not confidence nor is it self-doubt. It is not fear, but neither is the absence of fear. It is not a chaotic feeling, but neither have I experienced a calm in my heart. It is not apathy, and yet it is not enthusiasm either. I am simply going about my day one thing at a time; it would be overwhelming to look beyond that one thing. Is it the feeling that I have no purpose because I am not spending my days with AIDS orphans in Africa? Perhaps it is... perhaps it is a feeling of inadequacy, perhaps I feel as though I must return to the mission field in order to be useful. If so I need to address this.

I am not only a missionary when I am on a "mission trip." On the last day at debrief I dedicated my life to full-time Christian missions. My life is now, full-time Christian missions is now. Where I am standing is my mission field, I am a missionary.

Lord, Heavenly Father,

You have given me my mission field, I ask that you would grant me the grace and strength and to fulfill this mission and to bring you glory. Bring me joy, Lord, and perseverance as I tackle all the tasks you have set before me. For all those that you have called to be missionaries in your kingdom I ask that you would grant them the same grace and strength to lead the lost to you in their own hometowns. Thank you, Lord. Amen.

Marvelous Light

"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn in out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light." -John Keith Falconer

As I prepare for my trip to Africa it is difficult to forget why I am going. I am going to share the love and gospel of Jesus Christ with AIDS orphans, but is that all I am doing? Am I prepared to leave everything behind me except for the Word and comfort of my Saviour? Am I prepared for my candle of life to be burned out in a land filled with darkness? I need not ask myself if I am more comfortable in a land filled with light, comfort, and all things familiar to me, or in a land of darkness where everything is new and frightening. I know the answer; I think we all do.

Nevertheless, the Lord has not called us to comfort, nor to ease. He has called us to be burning candles in the darkest corners of the earth he has created, to do hard things for His glory.

As I journey toward darkness I need not fear, for with me I carry the most marvelous light of all, the Light of the World. And in taking that light into a place darker than the one I came from I am fulfilling the call to which I have been called, depending only on His grace for my sustenance.

1 Peter 2:9 says that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation so that we may proclaim the excellence of Jesus Christ who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. We have been brought from darkness to light, ought it not be our greatest dream to lead others into that same marvelous Light