Missions. To travel around and spread the good word that is Jesus Christ to those who don’t know Him. The people who do this are insane.
You could describe them as adrenaline junkies, travel addicts, Jesus freaks, and sometimes even perfect in our eyes because they’re doing something that we both do and don’t want to do.
We see them come to church and tell the congregation all about their passion of going to some village in a place that really only they and our Lord knows where and ask us to send them there. Who are we to say no? They’re going somewhere that no other Christian has been before!
Then the missionaries go. They hike up their giant backpack (necessities only), say goodbye to their friends and family with the most infectious grins, and get on that plane that is the bridge to their next journey. They arrive and begin serving and being selfless, which is who Christ is.
They experience a new culture, live on a tight budget, meet new people everyday, learn a new language, miscommunicate, sacrifice their time 24/7, eat food that isn’t tasty or nutritional, get lost, get jumped and have all their money and credit cards stolen, volunteer for anything that they can volunteer for. They also begin missing out on their own personal devotionals because they’re so tired from doing everything else, cry anytime they’re alone, struggle to get support from family back home, and eventually begin to look for ways out of the mission field because it’s “too hard.”
The fact is that I’m a missionary.
During my trip, I got too caught up in the serving aspect that I forgot to balance that with taking care of myself spiritually. To fill others up you must first be filled up. But I wasn’t. And it was even worse when I was a squad leader trying to disciple others. I realize that now, and I am relying on the Lord in these insane moments to completely reach the nations that He has called me to.
Missions is a mistake if you don’t take care of yourself.
It is a mistake if you are so selfless that you forget about the Lord, which in turn makes you selfish. Please just think of yourself! You aren’t helping anyone if you aren’t helping yourself. If you are on the mission field, please make a note to talk to the Lord. Learn something new about yourself.