On Being a Missionary....

After this morning’s events, I have had some time to sit and think about our time here in PNG.  Not sure if my ramblings will make sense, but here goes…

 

Growing up, I had this one view of a missionary.  This was my definition of an overseas missionary (if you had asked me 10 years ago):

 

A missionary is a person/couple who has decided to move to a foreign place where they will share the gospel every second that they get.  Before they were a missionary, they were probably very concerned with the poor or the unfortunate or the sick.  They may have even taken theology courses ….but if not, they have a very deep understanding of the Bible….all the in’s and out’s of it.  Their mission is to meet some basic need, while constantly sharing the gospel so that the whole world would know of Jesus.  This person/couple comes back to the US every couple of years….where they try and raise support to go back overseas.  They show tons of pictures and have really inspiring stories that make you cry….and when they leave, you think, “Gosh!  That missionary is something else!  God has really chosen someone who can do the work that I just couldn’t do.”

 

Now, please hear me on this one point:  There is NOTHING wrong with that kind of missionary.  What is wrong is that this is the ONLY type of  missionary that I thought existed!  That being said, that is just NOT the kind of missionary that I think that I am!

 

I had no idea, ten years ago, that there were needs all over the world that could be met by more “common place” people like myself.  Who would have thought that I could play a role in furthering Bible translation while potty training my son?  The thought NEVER crossed my mind.

 

I think that there are missionaries out there in the world today who God has given a vision for their particular mission.  Then, I think that there are missionaries out there in the world today who God has called to share in an already existing vision.  We are the latter. 

 

I think that there are TREMEDOUS hurdles and struggles that missionaries who are visionaries will face.  They are venturing into the unknown.  They are chartering new waters. But, they have their passion and their faith in God to fuel them on…

 

But, here is one of the many struggles for us missionaries who have chosen to share in a vision:  Sometimes, we find ourselves in a place where we do not like what we are doing.  Don’t miss this.  When you become a missionary, while “sharing” a vision, you find that there are people, circumstances and things about serving that you would have never signed up for, had you known what was in store.

 

Enter this morning’s events and the security issues that we find ourselves in.  Caleb and I have recently talked about how we came here to serve fellow missionaries.  We came here to PNG to love on those people who are on the “front lines” and actually translating God’s word into the heart language of the people (a language that they can easily understand).  Now, don’t get me wrong, we both have some amazing relationships with fellow Papua New Guineans. But, we would not say that our number one reason for coming here to PNG was to serve them. We hoped we could serve them on some level, but we just knew we weren’t going to be translating the Bible or anything super-cool like that. (This may sound awful….but it is honest.)  But, Caleb and I are realizing that his role is very relational.  He MUST have good relationships with Papua New Guineans, who in turn let him down (because here….the culture favors allegiance to one’s own family line, not allegiance to western ideas of law and order.)

 

This is where I find the idea of the “missionary call” fascinating.  You can look at the missionary call as the time that God made it abundantly clear to you that you were to go.  But, I like to think of our missionary call as the time that God decided to teach us what we needed to learn.  Someone here put it this way, “You can be called to serve in America, but God had to bring you all the way over here to PNG to teach you what he intends to teach you.” 

 

I truly feel like I am a missionary who lives a very “normal” life….except a very far-removed life from everyone and everything I love and miss dearly.  I would NOT say that every morning I wake up with a vision.  But, the more I am here, the more I am seeing how the vision we are sharing may become more and more the vision we hold dear, even when we return to the States. 

 

To sum it all up, I guess I always thought that a missionary was someone who had a heart for people, a deep love for people than I could claim to have.  But, I am learning that when you become a missionary, even if you did not have that heart to begin with, God will use the circumstances in your life to change your heart.  I am praying that God would continue to change our hearts…