Where My Feet Are Planted

“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. “ Psalm 62: 1-2

I love the stability and unchanging character of our God. Everything around us can shift and there He is, a Rock that remains unmoved and unshaken. Even as I write this sentence I can see and hear the rain beat down on the Colorado Mountains from my window. Lightening is crashing and a fierce wind is blowing that makes the windows on this lodge shudder. Unsurprisingly, the mountain’s position remains the same.

I’ve been thinking about having peace in the midst of change quite a bit the past week. On a small scale, it still amazes me that because of air travel I can be on the beach one evening and then in the mountains the next afternoon. On a larger scale, I’m currently immersed in a training program where the whole focus is to prepare you to leave all familiarity to serve Jesus Christ in a foreign country.

Most of my waking hours lately have been spent taking classes and ‘doing life’ with 45 missionaries and their 37 young children. Each one of the families or singles here has been called by God to enter new cultures and contexts; all for the purpose of proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. The places and ways they’ll serve will be different (pastor, church-planter, doctor, dentist, veterinarian, pilot) but each one is hungry to introduce people to an unchanging, trustworthy God.

Maybe you’re like me and you’ve thought at some point “But missionaries are ‘super-Christians!’  They are absolutely fearless!  That’s why God chose them.”   When we look at Scripture, it’s obvious God didn’t choose anyone to serve Him on the basis of their fearlessness (look at Gideon and Moses). What I see is that He looks instead at humility and a willingness to go (Isaiah 6:8). Where He sends us will look different for each one of us, but I know it will always be outside our comfort zone. Faith always does that.

For these men and women called to overseas missions, uncertainty about their future causes them to struggle with normal human fears.  So what do they do with their “humanness”? They’re actively giving their fears of the unknown to the Lord and moving forward, fixed on His face.  They’re not being paralyzed by fear; instead they’re in the process of having it stripped off of them as they run forward in obedience and faith. As a result, I’m convinced we’ll gain new family members from Bosnia, China, Japan, Cambodia, India, Vietnam, Tunisia, Lesotho, Sierra Leon, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Senegal, Burundi, Myanmar, Mexico, Chad and the Czech Republic.  

Spending time with some of the missionary children has given me a picture of what my faith and trust should look like.  Every one of them that I’ve talked to has been content to step out as long as Dad and Mom seem to think it’s a good idea. They very simply trust that their parents will be with them and take care of them, so it doesn’t really matter to them what their lives will look like. They have confidence to follow dad to the dinner table, the playground, or to Senegal. The context doesn’t matter to them because they have a relationship that serves as their constant.

I’m learning to love how the Lord only gives us the details we need, when we need it. Again, the He has used the children to teach me. I’ve been observing this week how they’re being taught and prepared in their classes and by their parents on how to fit into their new assignment. For instance, I was eating dinner last night with a young family that is preparing to go to India. The little toddler son was asked by his dad “now what hand do we eat with?” and the little boy proudly shot up his right hand, left hand on his lap. His little eyes shone as his dad praised “Good job, buddy!” The father was giving him preparation for the Indian culture, but just what the little guy could handle. He didn’t explain the Caste system, give him a book on Hindi, or discuss polytheism with his four-year old son. He will keep giving him what he needs to know, when he’s able to handle it. That son’s responsibility is really just to obey and follow his dad, and enjoy doing that. Dad will take care of the rest of the details.  Maybe we’re tempted to say, “Yeah, but that’s for children. We’re really responsible for a lot more than that. Grown-ups don’t get to just follow along like that.”  It sounds too simple to me too.

 “So Jesus explained, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. 

Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”  John 5:19

“For I do not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it.”  John 12:49

 “The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.” John 8:29

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Too simple for my pride, more than enough to go on in faith.

Lord, help us to be like little children, looking to You alone as our constant. Make us content to serve You wherever our feet are planted on this earth. Plant them in the Rock of who You are and give us courage to follow You.

“Faith never knows where it is being led, but loves and knows the One who is leading.” –Oswald Chambers.