Lord, It's Not What, But Who... a 20 yr reflection

A PRAYERFUL REFLECTION
TWENTY YEARS SERVING THE LORD IN MISSIONS
JUNE 1991- JUNE 2011

LORD, IT’S NOT WHAT, BUT WHO

Lord, You called our family to serve You by going out in missions abroad.
You spoke to us about it for years, preparing, training, arranging.
It all came into focus in 1991 that it was time, and the people of Mexico.
Leaving our comfortable home, family and church in Michigan, we set out on what was supposed to be a one-year season of service.
First to Canada for training, then Mexico.
The Mexico stay changed from one year to nine years.
Then, stay in the region along the border in Southern Cal (a really strange place for 11 years).
Regular mission work in Baja. Ministry travel to many parts of Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia… even Africa.
This month, it’s now been twenty years.
Wow, that one-year season of service sure grew!

Thank You for Your tender mercies and abiding Presence, especially when far from home or in the middle of a long, hot ministry day
Thank You for all the wonderful people we’ve encountered in the strangest places.
Thank You for family, friends and ministry partners who continue to love us and pray for us long-distance, two decades out.
Thank You for bug nets, SPF 40, ORT, anti-malarials and the smell of DEET.
Thank You for providing coffee all around the world (oh, the coffee!).
Thank you for all the fellow travelers, the mission workers and outreachers, the national workers and leaders… what a bunch!
Thank You for the joy of worshipping with brothers and sisters in soooooo many cultures… and oh, such wonderful music!!

So, Lord, what is the legacy of the last twenty years?
No monuments. No pedestals. No big media blitz. No buildings with plaques.
Just hundreds of lives touched… touched by You… You!
Especially people with little resources, marginalized, difficult lives.
Touched through prayer, through healthcare ministry, by kind words and listening ears, by simple provisions, by hugs, laughs and relationship…
You were there, totally there.
Some people You touched quickly… yes, there have been miracles…
Many people You touched through the long-haul ministry of relationship and hard-work, helping them to overcome years of abandonment and marginalization (the slow-grow-miracle, deep roots).

Lord, the legacy is not what, but who.
Isn’t that what the Kingdom is all about?

Thank you that Your Presence is easily found in a family’s dirt-floor hut or a traffic-crazy street-corner.
Thank you that You really do show up where 2 or 3 are gathered in Your Name, even though we can’t speak each other’s dialect.
Thank you that you still break and bless and care for thousands… even when it’s us that end up broken and blessed.

Thanks for letting us work alongside You for the last 20 years.
Thanks for all the ministry partners You’ve placed us with, a part of every life touched… and help pay the bills.
Thanks for the churches that pray for us and help out.
Thanks for extending our family with two awesome son-in-laws and two awesome grandkids over these decades.

Thanks for it all.
What a ride!
What’s up for the next 20 years??

Your kid out working Your fields,
Chris

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