I am selfish. I go on mission trips for selfish reasons. I enjoy traveling to new places. I love interacting with new cultures, & making new friends. It is for purely selfish reasons that sign up for mission trips.
I despised Mission Friends, GAs, and Acteens. Those church activities made me very uncomfortable. I could not imagine who in their right God- given mind would choose to live in a foreign country! Did they not enjoy air conditioning, "ice" tea , & the good ole USA? One particular missionary story sealed the deal for me during GAs. My teacher shared about a missionary to Africa that came home to find a king cobra coiled up on her sofa! Did the writer of that article believe that God would use that story to "call " me to the mission field? Absolutely not! Never! It did quite the opposite...
Because I am selfish. I knew The Lord would never call me to go to Africa or anywhere for that matter that had deadly venomous snakes!!! I was terrified of those creatures. He called people that were brave, fearless, and selfless to be missionaries. I am not that person. I have many fears, and I enjoy US luxuries too much to give it up for a stranger in a foreign land. Wouldn't I be more useful in the US teaching school where it's safe? Where life is easier? Because I'm selfish.
While pregnant with Peyton, I bought a book entitled, Miracle in a Shoebox by Franklin Graham. Because I am selfish. Of course I wanted God's best for my child. I wanted him to read, to learn, to know the ways of the Lord. I read the book to him and, we began packing shoeboxes for OCC. It gave and still gives us pure joy to shop, pack, and pray for our OCC shoebox children. Because I am selfish, I know I don't want him to be. I want him to love others more than himself. I want him to be a giver, not a taker. Having experienced that "pure joy", I wanted and still want that life for both of my boys. Because I am selfish, I want the best for my children.
So for purely selfish reasons I go on mission trips. God puts together unlikely groups to use their stories to glorify Him. Friendship are made with people from home and people thousands of miles away. It allows me to visit with old friends, like Royce and Sandra Watkins, sharing past memories and future visions. Hours of laughter and relief from the schedule of craziness that drives me at home are a few of my purely selfish motives.
But when I return o home, I'm forever changed. Always. I struggle to reconnect with life as we know it in the states because I know life is bigger than what we can see here. I remember a man in a remote village who was robbed, beaten, and almost killed. Our team went to pray with him and try to encourage him. but it was the other way around. With sincerity, he explained how he had been praying for us to come to his village! We were his miracle!?? Wow!!! Humbling to know that he had been praying for us to visit his village and share God's love with his people! What a loving heart he had for the people of his village. it made me think: do I even know my neighbor's name?
I continue to question why God would allow me to be born into a loving, Christian family in the greatest county on Earth. (Still waiting on an answer) I only know that I have a responsibility. that is to get up and geaux. And with selfish motives, I will continue to go....because it's the greatest adventure ever.....with eternal benefits!!
