Obedience is not an Option (5/23/09 - 5/29/09)

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

I am so thankful for all the lessons the LORD taught me through our time of training. Read on to find out more!

Prayer Necessities for the Skimmers:

1. Pray for unity for our team, as our enemy is trying his dead-level best to tear us apart. Pray for wisdom for Leah and me as team leaders as we think through some difficult decisions regarding the team.

2. Pray for favor with the Bolivian government, as we travel from Lima to an embassy on the Peru-Bolivia border to begin the resident visa process.

3. Pray that God will begin to prepare the hearts of Latin and indigenous women with whom we can develop relationships. Pray that He will call some of those women into missionary service with us in Bolivia.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know (Bonus for the Readers):

God has opened my eyes just a little to the depths of the wickedness in my heart and, while it is hard to look at, to be forgiven and cleansed of that unrighteousness is so liberating. I feel like a 20-pound burden has been lifted!

One of the girls on my team used the analogy of a well to describe the sin in our hearts. She talked about how she wants God to dredge up some of that black muck at the bottom of the well and pull it out so that the water in the well will be a little more pure. During this week, He dredged up some of the muck that has been in my heart for 25 years, and I now feel like the water is a little more clear.

For your benefit, I won't share all of my sins with you. (Yeah, you'd be here for the rest of the year reading that!) But I will share one very powerful thing the LORD did in my life this week.

During a conversation with my boss Jeremy, he told me that he and his wife had been praying for me in regards to my attitude and how I cling to my rights. He told me that, not as a judgment, but with humble sincerity in an attempt to help me. But my initial response was, "What?! I have come down here and done everything you've asked of me, but you think I'm demanding my rights?!"

But that night, the LORD woke me up thinking about that, and He opened my eyes to how I was doing exactly that. I was clinging to my rights as an American, and I had convinced myself that I was really entitled to that life I had once had. I was entitled to the car I drove, the TV I had, the food I ate. I deserved all of that. (Here are pictures of what we ate before training and getting ready to eat after training started.)

And, though I had not really realized it before that night, I had kept in the back of my mind the idea of completing three years as a missionary and then returning to some sort of position as a pharmacist in the States, one where I could live a life of comfort once again. After all, I was entitled to that life I'd had before, and surely the LORD would be adequately pleased with those three years of sacrifice.

But God reminded me of something Jeremy had said. He had explained how the New Testament in the original language frequently uses the word "doulos" to describe followers of Christ. Many English versions of Scripture translate this word as "servant," but the English word that is actually an accurate translation is "slave." The difference between a servant and a slave is that the servant can quit his job, but the slave has no choice but to obey.

When I was in the process of applying to be a missionary and struggling with the seeming nonsense of giving up my career as a pharmacist, God confirmed His calling by leading me to the passage where the prophet Elijah anointed Elisha as his successor. Elisha asks to go back to say goodbye to his family, and what happens next is interesting:

"So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant." (1 Kin. 19:21)

God reminded me that there was no turning back for Elisha. When the LORD called him, he killed his oxen and burned his plow; there was no returning to his old way of life.

It is the same with me. I am a "doulos" of Christ, and obedience is not an option. My Master is gentle and good, but He's still my Master. Whether I'm a missionary for three years or thirty is solely dependent on His direction. I am entitled to nothing but to follow Him. And to do so gives me everything!

Leah and I after speaking at Eternal Life Christian Mission in Iquitos, Peru