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May 25, 2006

I Go Gladly

Sponsorship checks for my Romania trip have started to come in, and every time I get one, I am amazed. There is a missions slogan that says, "Some people go. Some people pay. Some people pray." The Caedmon's Call song, "Share the Well," says, "Maybe you've got money, maybe you've got time, maybe you've got the Living Well that ain't ever running dry." I honestly never thought that I would be the one to go.

There are 10 people on the team, including two teenage girls who are going with their mothers, and about the only thing we all have common is that we have all been saved by Grace. For some of us, it's our first mission trip, for others, their fourth or fifth. Our leader and her 14-year-old daughter have been to Romania a few times, though never to Timisoara. They are our resource, teaching us how to say "please" and "thank you" and preparing us for the carb heavy Romanian diet.

I expect to be changed by the experience, but I am still uncertain as to how. I read in my team member training guide that God wants us to invest our experiences in changing the world around us; that He is interested in us "impacting" the world, not merely impressing it. In the letter I sent to friends and family, asking for their support both financially and in prayer, I said: "And pray for me that God will use this experience and the people I encounter to draw me closer to Him and to embolden me to be in the world for Him."

I pray that every day - to be Bold. It's easy sometimes to make excuses for our beliefs, because we don't want to be seen in a way we don't see ourselves. No one likes stereotypes, but I am learning to say "Who cares?"

In my application for this trip, I had to write a brief testimonial and at the end I said that the greatest lesson I have ever learned is that Jesus is the answer to every question I have ever asked.

There is a worship song that I am sure I have quoted here before called "The Glory of Your Name." Sometimes I sing it without even realizing that I am singing it. (If M and I were to ever reside under the same roof, it would be a noisy household, as he is a mindless hummer and I am a mindless singer.) It says "It is in your victory, risen for the world to see, that all who would believe could enter in. It is in the passionate price, now demanding all my life, beating in the chambers of my heart." He is the answer. The heart beat. The call, demanding me to be Bold, to impact His world, for Him. I go gladly and with great praise.

Posted by hannah at 05:32 PM