Hello!
Chris here.
This
series of Blogs about the missionary realities, especially ‘modern missionary
struggles’ is, hopefully, a window for some of our serious partners to ‘pray
with understanding’...
So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will
also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also
sing with my understanding. 1 Cor
14:15
Hopefully,
this Blog will give you some solid ways to pray for us.
Gone
are the days where missionaries pack their earthly belongings in wooden caskets
and ship off to a land that they will never return from alive. [Hence, the
casket-shipping containers]. These heroes of missionary history would usually
find out their family and friends passed away in a letter or post that took
months to reach them. For them, the call of missions meant a tearing away from
any real family involvement, literally following the Gospel passage,
Many people were traveling
with Jesus. He said to them, “If you come to
me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me
more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—even more
than your own life! Whoever will not
carry the cross that is given to them when they follow me cannot be my
follower. Luke
14:25-27, ERVersion
When
we are in the SF Bay area, we’ve stayed at a wonderful, historic missionary ‘transit
house’, where so many missionaries waited for their ship passage, mainly to
China and Japan. Some of the portrait-pictures were the last pictures taken of
them in America... ever. They served, and were buried in their field of
service, never to have returned.
That
was then, this is now.
Welcome
to the days where;
^^you
can travel to anywhere on the planet in 72 hours from wherever you currently are
on that same planet, with no regards for $$$, of course,
^^we
are fully available for phone calls, texts, emails and Skype video calls anywhere
there is a cell tower signal, and
^^our
families know this
Given
we are missionaries working 4 hours out from the major city with a fly-able
airport, sometimes hampered by bad roads and un-safe weather (especially the
mountainous travel)...
...and
all our travel is on a limited budget...
...and
all our family are between 500 and 1,800 miles away...
...and
it’s more than air-flights: it’s ground transpo, places to stay, cost of
travel-eating...
...Sooo...
...what do we do about family crisis and emergencies?
Here
is our Scripture grid for decision-making in family crisis and emergencies:
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives
generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James
1:5
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord
establishes their steps Proverbs 16:9
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow
me. John 10:27
Here
is what we do:
^^We pray and ask the Lord to speak,
^^we begin making appropriate plans,
^^we keep listening for the Voice of our
Shepherd,
^^we make calls and connections, we keep
listening, and...
^^plans emerge... we fly out.
Yes,
there can be significant work-flow disruption in our Mexico work by being ‘pulled
away’ and having to quickly change plans and fly to where family is. Working
with people in a Mexican farming village has an entirely different pace,
planning rhythm and final ‘it will happen’ factor.
Example:
it took us two weeks of arranging dates to pull off the Kindergarten Hat
Outreach a few blogs back... planned dates, changed, new date,
oh-yeah-school-closed, how about this date? Date change, FINALLY an outreach!
In
the last few years, we have had to change some Outreach plans and one of us do
a ‘rapid-deploy’ fly-out more than a few times.
Our bottom line is, we ask the Lord, and follow what His
direction is to us. Since He is the Lord of the Harvest, we work for Him.
There
have been some tough spots along the way. For the family who all live and work
in America, there can be an assumption that we can ‘drop what we’re doing and
fly over’ for the ‘expected family involvement’... and they let us know that.
That
is a really, really tough thing, especially given the cost of ‘time-talent-treasure’
involved.
SO,
good friends and partners... PRAY-PRAY-PRAY for us in all these matters, that
more than anything, we can hear the Voice of our Lord and respond to Him and
His calling in the situation, not the pressures of expectations in a family
crisis.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33
tu
hermano,
Cris
All Scripture references from New International Version
unless otherwise indicated.
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