Waiting for a Sign

The call to be a missionary: what does that really mean, anyway? Was I called? Isn’t everyone called? I have been thinking about this a lot lately and how I feel in the midst of pursuing missions in a foreign country.

I truly believe that God calls everyone to live their lives missionally (is that word?). Believers are called all throughout the Bible to GO and/or SEND.  Of course our God is fully capable of giving people clear-cut callings or signs telling them exactly when and where to go. I have actually met people who have had Him do this in their lives. But ultimately, isn’t it my choice of whether or not to follow Him?

When we became Christians, Ryan and I didn’t necessarily wait around for God to leave us a trail of signs pointing to missions or to put a billboard in front of our face with the word “HAITI” on it. It didn’t seem like there was the need for a specific, special call just for the two of us. I mean, how many places in the Bible do you see God’s commands to just go? If you ask Ryan why he chose to be a missionary, he will say, “Well.. I read the New Testament.” Simple as that.

How long would it take if we waited around for a vision from God saying to go and work for Him? If we did wait, I wouldn’t be surprised if we would miss it because we were too caught up in our lives to take notice. Missions have been on our hearts since we became Christians. Maybe we are taking a giant leap of faith but we know that no matter how far we jump, God will always be ahead of us. He’ll never fall behind.

If we truly live our lives with Him at the very center, I have no doubt that He will guide us. And if He doesn’t want us somewhere, He will let us know. If you look at the scriptures describing Paul’s life you see that he tried to take the gospel to Asia but was kept by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16). After those failed attempts, God finally gave him a vision of Macedonia. I believe that He may give us a sign, but it also doesn’t feel right to wait around for a sign instead of just simply trying to fulfill his commands.

If you have some free time, take a few minutes to watch this sermon by David Sitton. It’s kind of on the same topic, and overall I think it is awesome. You don’t need to watch the full 50 minutes, but it is great! Below is a highlight of the first eight minutes of the video.

Reckless Abandon: Jesus is Worth It!

By David Sitton

As we engage in the pioneer mission of getting His name known among all of the nations – as we do it, will we do it with reckless abandon or will we do it just through reasonable risks? Which is it going to be as we go to the nations: Reckless abandon, or reasonable risk?

What kind of missionary is it going to take to finish the mission? Get ready, new missionary, for Christ as you get ready to go! Not only are you going to be fighting against your own fears and your own insecurities – you’re also going to be fighting the opposition of family and friends who are going to be working against you. They’re going to be saying, “Don’t go into those dangerous places.” So are you going to press on and go, or are you going to shrink back in fear?

Danger questions are, for the most part, “American” questions. When we get to much of the rest of the world, they’re not asking the kinds of questions that we are asking. Most of the rest of the world already knows that being a Jesus follower is hazardous to their health. Persecution and martyrdom is frequent for most believers in third world countries…

Are we going to invest our lives in finishing the mission in those places where there is still strong hostility toward the gospel and against Jesus? Or are we just going to live our lives counting the reasonable risk costs and leaving most of the rest of the world unreached because its not prudent to go to those places?

The fact that the world, dangerous as it is, it will not be reached by worldly, wise people. It’s not going to be reached by people who want to save their lives. Its not going to be reached by people who want to pamper their lives. A huge part of the world – 1/3 of the population – is still living in darkness with no access to any meaningful gospel. This 1/3 of the world’s population - they will not be reached. Except by fools! That’s how they are going to be reached. By men and women who become fools for Christ, fools for nations, and fools for the tough places where the name of Christ has never gone! That is how the gospel is going to go forward powerfully.

So what kind of missionary is it going to take to finish the mission? There’s no chapter in the Bible for the “reasonable risk” guys. There’s no chapter for the “play it safe” boys. There’s no chapter for the experts at “risk avoidance.” Take a look at Hebrews 11. This is a chapter where God is calling people by name, speaking of their radical faith and reckless abandon. None of us would read these stories and say, “Yeah – lets live life that way!” But God commends them for their recklessness. By their faith, they pleased God, and for that He commends them.

(To hear the full sermon, go to: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/reckless-abandon-jesus-is-worth-it)

And since it's been a while since I've added some photos of us here in Quebec, here are a few!

 This one is actually way back from the 4th of July!

 Last week we took our first ride across the river on the ferry boat! We met up with some friends to get some ice cream. :)

 Apparently it was a good thing we chose that day to take the boat, because later that evening one of the two ferry boats broke and so now there is only one running at the moment!

 Here are a few our friends from the university here we have been blessed to meet since we arrived. We went to the famous Chocolats Favoris for some ice cream :)

 Riding the boat back to QC! (With the Chateau Frotenac in the background, which is supposedly one of the most photographed hotels in the world. Just a little Quebec trivia. :)  

One last thing - is it difficult to read the white text on the blue background? I am having a difficult time figuring out what type of text is the easiest to read. Please let me know!