Why I Go

Everyone has a reason for doing mission work. Hopefully the main reason is to reach people for Christ and glorify God. This is true for me, but there are other reasons in addition for me.

Believe it or not, some go because it gives them a feeling of superiority. I feel exactly the opposite. Its humbling. I have to face my own struggle with prosperity, my own culture. Brennan Manning wrote a book called "The Ragamuffin Gospel" and I have been working through it for several months now. I recently came across this observation:

"We get so preoccupied with ourselves, the words we speak, the plans and projects we conceive that we become immune to the glory of creation. We barely notice the cloud passing over the moon or the dewdrops clinging to the rose leaves . . . We avoid the cold and the heat. We refrigerate ourselves in summer and entomb ourselves in plastic in winter. We rake up every leaf as fast as it falls. We are so accustomed to buying prepackaged meats and fish and fowl in supermarkets we never think and blink about the bounty of God's creation. We grow complacent and lead practical lives."

So when I work with and among those who have the tiniest fraction of creature comforts I take for granted, and hear them laugh from their bellies and smile from their eyes, I am confronted with the fact that not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. Once again I must separate the American definition of success from the gospel. In other words, I don't just tell people about Christ because they are unhappy. Many of them are quite content though they have far less than our poorest. I tell them because Christ commanded me to, and their eternal soul depends on hearing the gospel.

So I also go because it keeps me grounded. It helps me to put in perspective all God *has* given me.

For the Harvest,
Phil