Ambiguity

We leave Ecuador in a week and still do not have our visas to return. Our lawyer doesn’t seem too concerned. So, there's one person.

One of the most exciting/challenging/infuriating things of cross-cultural living is the level of uncertainty that is always just under the surface. 

You can just click into automatic in your home country. You know what you'll find at the grocery story, if they'll have the part when your car breaks, what your commute will be like, consistent electricity and water. Generally, things work the way you expect them to.

We have no idea what it means if we don’t receive a visa.

Can we still return in November?
Do we have to wait until January?
If we’re out of the country when it’s approved, will we still receive it?
Would we have to start the process over?
What does it mean if we’re rejected completely? Can we come back? When? For how long?

I don’t throw out those questions because we’re panicked. We’re not. The worst that could happen is we’ll have to go back to our home, to our bed, with our dog laying at the foot of it. The only thing lost would be our plans. 

I mention the questions because things would be different if, like most missionaries, we had sold everything, raised a bunch of money, then moved our family to go where we believed God had called us. It creates all kinds of practical and spiritual questions.

As strange as it may sound, a life in missions is a life of "not knowing." It puts us in a place of dependency. It's a hard place. An exhausting place. And its the place where we need to be. 

Leaving the Harvest

Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field."

I wish he'd added, "And ask him to help them get along!"

I have heard the number one reason missionaries leave the field is because of other missionaries. I've never seen the study, so I don't know if it was done by MSNBC or Breitbart, but it's at least close to true.

Now they also leave for, ailing parents, needs of children, and even retirement. And those are the reasons they tell you.

But usually there's a story behind the story. We tell the cleaned up version. The one that makes people smile and nod instead of cringe. We do it to "protect Jesus" or the mission, or so we don't look like a failure. 

People think, in missions, their coworkers will be like Jesus. What they find is some are as impulsive as Peter or as power hungry as James and John. Some will doubt them, like Thomas and some are as demanding and as Paul. 

So missionaries hit the ground expecting to work with Jesus and instead they get disciples. It's awful!

You can get some toxic people, but that's usually not the case. These are all good, Jesus-loving people, who left home to change the world. And they are all living at a constant level of cross-cultural and ministerial stress that can make them act in some very un-Christlike ways.

Sometimes it's just we're all very different people, trying to get to the same place, by going in different directions.

So, if you have a missionary you pray for... when you pray for their protection, their cultural adjustment, language acquisition and success in ministry, pray too for their team. Pray for healthy relationships with teammates. For unity and friendship. For laughter and joy in the work.

Because joining the harvest is great. And we need to stay together until it's completed.