Counting the cost…

A short term mission trip, especially internationally, provides a variety of applications for learning to share my faith as I ….goOne of the hardest parts of the “going” on a mission trip is what is left behind…these guys…and this guy….and all the big kids in between. All the changes and adjustments to their lives because my life has boarded a plane and moved across the globe and down a hemisphere.

As I count the cost of leaving them, I have to understand that part of that cost…costs them.

It is not just me, myself and I. Sure, I have to adjust my schedule, make arrangements, cover responsibilities….but….

Traveling half way around the world to visit God’s people means there will be a sacrifice on the part of those I leave behind.

Because I answer a call to go…they are, by default, called to remain…to wait…to pray…to fight fear and to trust God.

On my last trip to Kenya, we did work in several remote regions that involved traveling back to the center after dark. It was on one of these return trips that I faced the possibility that my life and the outcome of decisions made to follow Christ may sometimes have painful consequences that will have to be processed by the people who love me; without me.

As we share Christ along the path of our every day lives,in this country, we typically do not face fatal consequences. Yet.

For now, it may cost us some comfort…it may cost our family and friends a level of comfort, as well…and that can make us very uncomfortable…

But we can trust God to more than make up for anything we ever could think we have sacrificed to show others what He has done for us.

I think of the words of promise He used to back up the commission that calls us all to “go”.

He says them, right after He commands us to make disciples of all people, baptize them, and teach them them how to obey everything in His Word.

He ends the whole commissioning with words of comfort…most likely because He knows..

it will cost us…

and it will cost those we love…and so, whether they have joined us in the call to share the good news as  we”go” or whether we sometimes “go” without them…He has promised….

and be sure of this…I am with you always…even to the end of the world. Matthew 28:20 TLBThe promise is not that it will be easy, comfortable or a sweet ride for all of the people we care about. The call is to “go”…and the promise is … He will join us on the journey <3