I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking and reading the last couple months. Thinking about what I want to be when I grow up. (Yeah, I know. It’s about time.) Reading about foreign countries, missions, sacrifice, miracles, and the Bermuda Triangle. Absolutely fascinating, the stories out of that place. Really. What follows, I suppose, is the beginnings of my decision/thesis/conclusion (minus the Bermuda Triangle):
I’ve had a good life. Traveled a bit, spent a bit, read a bit . . . eaten a lot. I’ve been comfortable. What have I sacrificed? . . . Um, huh. What would I have to say to Daniel in Heaven? Paul? Amy Carmichael? Jim Elliot? . . . Jesus? “Uh, hey. Really neat how you gave up so much in your life. I always wanted to be just like you. Only . . . um, well, I guess I never got around to it . . .” And you thought foot fungus was embarrassing. Don’t you see? We’ve only got one chance at this. One arrow to shoot. One race to run. One masterpiece to paint. And then we’re finished. I don’t know what you’ve been doing with your life, but I’ve been wasting too much of mine. Sitting on the couch, chowing popcorn while some girl in Africa dies of AIDS. The worst part isn’t that she died. The worst part is that I don’t even know her name. Do you? I don’t know her birthday, what she wanted to be when she grew up, or what her favorite color was. Jesus knows. He gave His life so she could know Him. And here I sit on my couch with my popcorn.
I’m not okay with that anymore.
“Go and make disciples.” What if we took the words of Jesus literally? What if we stopped quoting, “What would Jesus do?” and started actually doing what Jesus would do? These are just words. They’re easy to write, easy to read, and even easier to forget. We should know. We’ve forgotten whole heaps of statistics and sermons and summons before.
So, what am I going to do about all this? . . . Well, that’s a good question. I think I’m going. Literally. Going. To somewhere. Not sure where. God knows. But I don’t want to be the only one at this. I want to see the Bride of Christ in America stand up and come with me. I want to see the billions of Christians start to swallow up the millions of orphans. I want to see us stand up and jump in and pour out until it’s enough and Jesus comes back. I want to see more Christians be Christ. I want to see a raging torrent of disciples who aren’t afraid to live and aren’t ashamed to die. I want to learn what it means to give what I can’t keep to gain what I’ll never lose. I want to “go and make disciples.”
What do you want?
