This is my friend Andrea Ward's second guest post in the #DangerDays series, and just like the first one, it's gonna blow you away! You can follow Andrea on Twitter @citrus_sunshine and visit her blog (which I HIGHLY recommend!) at http://jesusyoume.blogspot.com/. Now if I can just get her hubby Drew to write one as well. He knows all about danger and adversity. He's a New York Mets fan....
The Danger
of Staying Home
I think most
every Christian has faced the fear of being called to a strange foreign country
as part of their service to God. That is dangerous service and those that go
are the brave servants. My friend, who didn't speak Albanian, went to Albania
for 2 years. A girl I grew up with went on a mission trip around the world and
then settled in the Philippines. Those girls are living out a radical and
dangerous faith. I'm certainly not included in that group. All I did was go to
college, become a teacher, get married, and have two kids. There isn't any
danger there. Or so I thought.
I wrote a
post several weeks ago about my husband and I following God to a new church and
to a new job for him. Based on that fact one would think I had redefined
dangerous in my life. Unfortunately, my fickle heart and scattered brain have
difficulty holding on to some concepts. So when I saw someone on Instagram
taking about his family moving overseas, I thought about how he was really
living out a dangerous faith. Then God derailed my train of thought. He
emphasized the notion that staying home can be just dangerous.
How so?
It is no
secret that we live in a country that prides itself and it's citizens on their
ability to do it themselves. I see many people my age and older struggling to
get to the next thing. Maybe that thing is a promotion or a bigger house or a
nicer car or some other self imposed goal. So when I don't live that way or
believe that way I stick out.
When you
plant yourself in one place for a long time, you have the chance to see change
become a new normal. And that new normal isn't just in my life.
I attend a
Bible study that started in a tattoo studio ministering to addicts. Today it
meets in the back room of a local restaurant and ministers to whoever walks through
the doors. Through that Bible study I have connected with recovering addicts,
the homeless, the elderly, some kids, and some 'normal' people. I have seen
people get jobs, homes, and healing. I have seen some lose their way and find
it back again.
Recently we
saw a former youth of ours. This past Sunday he served as an usher. We have
seen him grow from an angry surly teen into a young man going to NC State to be
a veterinarian. He went from only being willing to run the projector at the
back of the sanctuary to serving as an usher. He went from cursing God to
having a faith strong enough to ask questions and watch for answers.
Now we are
waiting on God to tell us what the next big thing is, and yes we have been told
by multiple people it will be big. In the meantime, we are raising our two
kids, enjoying family time and loving those around us.
Isn't it
dangerous to stay when it gets hard because God told you to fight? Isn't it
dangerous to walk away and wait for God to tell you what is next? Isn't it
dangerous to stay in one place and keep reaching out? I think so and I think I
will.
Thanks for sharing, Andrea, you live a beautiful faith :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim. That means a lot coming from you. : )
ReplyDelete