So . . . Wow God is good.
I just had a precious memory from my trip to Zimbabwe, and I wanted to share it with you.
I had been paying no attention to our schedule because I got to the point on my trip where I couldn't keep up with our crazy schedule and I was just thinking, "Okay, I'm up for anything today."
So to be honest, I was not in a good place in my life. I was farther away from God than I wanted to admit to myself or anyone else. But as we pull into a very rural primary school where a lot of kids didn't even know English (which is very uncommon in Zim), I remember thinking, "God, this is going to be the best day of my life."
Over the past few years prior, I lost my joy and heart for a lot of things, including Africa, even though my life dream was to work with little African children and love them like Jesus does.
So as we pull up to this school with my heart in terrible condition, the past few years of neglecting God and ignoring all the plans He has for me was completely forgotten.
We get out of the car and the school is awesome! Like I said before, this was a very poor and rural area. A lot of the kids have their only good meal at that school. The headmaster of the primary school walked us around campus and took us to different classrooms. We got stares and giggles and smiles. When class was dismissed, a BUNCH of kids came darting in our direction. One of the girls on my team and I were suddenly surrounded by at least thirty small African children, all fighting over who gets to touch (not just touch, but hold in amazement) my white skin and hair. Oh, how crazy about my hair they were!
In that moment, all I could think was "God is so good. God is so good. God is so good." I looked at these kids who were in bad shape and dirty and broken, and I saw Jesus. I saw joy in their eyes that I had never seen before. And in my heart, I felt a kind of love that I have never felt with anyone or anything before. I didn't know someone could love so much. This isn't the kind of love you get for a boyfriend or girlfriend, it was a kind of love that could only come from God. It was a love that I can only experience again with how I love Christ, and the thing is, I love Christ even more than I love those beautiful creations of God in Zimbabwe.
It breaks my heart to say that unfortunately, a lot of those children are lost. The reality is those who are lost are going to hell. They don't have anyone telling them about the Lord because of us Christians. We aren't doing our DUTY. We aren't doing our COMMAND. When I went to Zimbabwe, people were telling me left and right how special I was for going there. They were telling me how wonderful it is that I am doing this for God. But we are missing the point!! I did NOTHING significant for going, I was simply accepting the call God has given me to go.
It should be normal for Christians to go tell people about Jesus. It should not be significant when one Christian we know actually goes.
We should not say that only specific Christians have the calling to go be missionaries. When Jesus said to His disciples, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men," He didn't say, "and I will make you fishers of men" for no reason, He meant it. And when He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations," He didn't say, "only go if you are called." This was a command for all Christians. So, if we assume that we have to have a specific calling, then why don't we say we have to have a specific calling to stay? Because as far as I can tell, Jesus meant all of us.
So, go. GO AND TELL THE NATIONS ABOUT THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU! Don't keep it in, don't contain it. Start a revival in our nation and in our world. You can make a difference. You can make disciples.
Accept the command!
It breaks my heart to say that unfortunately, a lot of those children are lost. The reality is those who are lost are going to hell. They don't have anyone telling them about the Lord because of us Christians. We aren't doing our DUTY. We aren't doing our COMMAND. When I went to Zimbabwe, people were telling me left and right how special I was for going there. They were telling me how wonderful it is that I am doing this for God. But we are missing the point!! I did NOTHING significant for going, I was simply accepting the call God has given me to go.
It should be normal for Christians to go tell people about Jesus. It should not be significant when one Christian we know actually goes.
We should not say that only specific Christians have the calling to go be missionaries. When Jesus said to His disciples, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men," He didn't say, "and I will make you fishers of men" for no reason, He meant it. And when He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations," He didn't say, "only go if you are called." This was a command for all Christians. So, if we assume that we have to have a specific calling, then why don't we say we have to have a specific calling to stay? Because as far as I can tell, Jesus meant all of us.
So, go. GO AND TELL THE NATIONS ABOUT THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU! Don't keep it in, don't contain it. Start a revival in our nation and in our world. You can make a difference. You can make disciples.
Accept the command!
-Alex A
2015 Zimbabwe Orphan Care
“It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home.”
-Hudson Taylor
“It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home.”
-Hudson Taylor