John Doe, meet Jesus!

Okay, so I lied. I surely thought I was gonna be posting as much or more than before. I hadn't thought that once you stop blogging it's hard to start up again. I'm learning that it's a habit, like reading your Bible, cleaning your kitchen, or picking your nose. I've got the last three of those down pat, but I gotta get back into the blog scene.

If any of you are still checking in on a regular basis, I'm not gonna make any promises, but keep checking in and maybe I'll get back into the swing of things. For now, my very good friend Dave asked me to explain a bit more about something I said in that last post about the Western concept of evangelism and missionaries...

I think the problem is that a lot of folks in America get the wrong idea of what it means to be a missionary. One popular idea is that missionaries are lonely souls, living in a hut in some tropical rainforest, teaching Bible stories to naked Indian children. Now that's one kind of missionary (and a very good kind indeed), but I think it scares a lot of people who are attached to their creature comforts. People can easily sit on their couch and say "In that case, I could never be a missionary!"

Another picture people have of missionaries is from the false impressions they get through gigantic evangelistic crusades. In this way it would seem that missionaries are outspoken theologians who travel to exotic lands to preach hellfire and brimstone.

Likewise, people get the wrong impression of missionaries through stories of trampled cultures. When boats full of white men land on foreign shores and conquer the natives, and in the name of religion say that it's for their own good, missionaries quickly look like big, fat hypocrites. But a missionary doesn't have to be any of those things. You can be a missionary without being a hermit, a preacher, or hypocrite.

A missionary is simply someone who sets out to obey the Great Comission. A quick look into any major missions organization will show you that all kinds of jobs are needed on today's mission field. Missions work has become a lot more complex in the last fifty years and all sorts of short-term or part time support is needed. With whatever talent you have, or whatever time you'll give - you can and should be a missionary.

Part of the deal that once scared me about being a "missionary" was that I thought that meant I would have to become an "evangelist." Even if one has a good impression of evangelists (we won't talk about televangelists or the "God hates gays" sign-holders outside of every public gathering) that still means you've got to pass out tracts or say "Jesus loves you" to everybody on the road. That may be good, but it just doesn't sit well with me. Where's the personal connection?

Instead, I'm learning that Jesus can speak for Himself. If you'll just get out there, make friends and be sincere, you'll find that people start asking you questions. Being an evangelist on a real level simply means introducing people to Jesus. They see Him in you, He's attractive to them, so you just make the introduction.

For example, I don't set out to trek the streets of Malta saying to strangers, "You should meet my friend, Dave. He's really cool and he's got a plan for your life!" So why do some people try to do that with Jesus? Being an evangelist doesn't have to mean preaching "turn or burn" to people who never asked you. It just means that you share honestly the Good News about what Jesus has done in your life. And if they want to know more, "John Doe, meet Jesus!"

Poverbs 16:9

The mind of a man plans his ways,
But the Lord directs his steps.

Okaaayy… I remember when I first read that verse several years ago. I didn’t know, and I guess I still don’t know, exactly how it’s supposed to be interpreted or applied to my life. I think of questions like, “Does this go for believers and non-believers alike? Why doesn’t God just direct the plans? Am I still supposed to try to plan my ways? Is this some type of cryptic advice? Is this some kind of predestination thing?”

I think initially this verse stuck in my head just because I found it so mysterious. I just kind of carried it around in my head, ruminating on the possible truth of it, trying to figure out how it fit into the grand scheme of things. It kept coming back to me during times of prayer, and I’d often stop reading some other passage of the Bible and flip back to it, as if to make sure it was really still there. It’s not like there was any voice from heaven, and I don’t even remember any moment of impression or inspiration, but somehow I came to feel like God was speaking this verse to me. And now I think He’s the one reminding me of it. Because even though I still don’t really get it completely, I’m starting to see that it’s true in my life.

It’s kind of hard to explain. I mean, I’m here in Malta because I’m stepping out to find what the Lord wants to do with me. I’ve always had a passion to serve God, and I love experiencing other cultures, so I’ve guessed I should be a missionary (and thankfully I’ve also learned over the last several years that it involves a lot more than the current, western concept of “evangelism”). And it’s like I can look back at any one place I’ve traveled, or any one job I’ve taken and say that I decided to do that and I had reasons x, y, and z. But when I look back at the last 24 years of my life, there’s no way that I could have guided it to where it is today. God’s definitely been directing my life.

But it’s not that the current situation is so rock solid. At times, it’s been difficult to explain to people why now, why Malta, etc. Even the locals don’t understand why we want to learn Maltese, since it’s only spoken by a handful of people who otherwise speak English on a dry rock in the middle of the sea. They have a good point, and I’m unsure about a lot of things myself. I have no idea whether next week I will have a job, or even a work permit, a car, a small Bible study, a youth group. I could have everything or nothing. But that’s kinda the plan right now.

We’re gonna continue to plan things one day, one conversation at a time. But we’ve sort of come to a point, on purpose, where we’re depending on God to direct our steps. To some people that can sound incredibly irresponsible and it’s hard to explain why it’s not. And even though I’m nervous for things to work out alright both in the short and long term, I have a strange confidence.

It’s like God has a grin on his face and he’s saying, “Remember that one verse? Check this out…”

New Blog

First I have to thank my faithful friends and family who still consider themselves readers of this blog, to those who have checked this page regularly even though I have not been posting anything at all, and who have not thought that I am wasting your time with such sparse offerings, and who have seen it sufficient to excuse me due to the matter of moving to the other side of this planet we call Earth. Grazzi hafna! The mere fact that you’re still here reading is very affirming and validating to my fragile ego.

The good news is two-fold. First, I’m back on-line with lots of fresh inspiration. So I hope to be posting regularly (2-3 times a week), though maybe not quite so often because of the second piece of good news… My wife and I have got a new blog. We’ll be updating y’all on our adventures in the Mediterranean and introducing you to this wonderful country of Malta. Please check out the blog at merhba.blogspot.com. And stay tuned.