Finally Here

Many of you have asked when I am going to blog again, if ever, and here it finally is. I apologize for the hiatus, but many of you know I recently went on a global connections trip to Northwest Africa for two weeks. Though I have been back for two weeks, I am still processing my experiences and did not want to blog on anything else until I talked about my trip. Thanks for being patient :-)

I feel like I learned a lot on my trip and I am definitely still processing things to this day. People are always asking me, "how was your trip?" I never really know how to answer that question. It's just impossible to put an experience like this into words. Nevertheless, I have attempted to do it. The following is a journal entry of mine that I wrote when I got home. Hopefully it will give you a glimpse of what God taught me in Africa.

February 22, 2009

The theme I adopted for this trip was "to see the world how God has to see it everyday" [this will make more sense as I explain]. Going into this trip I knew a few things. First, we were going to be in an extremely poor area - one of the poorest regions in the entire world. It is also considered to be 100% muslim and hostile to Christianity. We would be going into a world of spiritual darkness and extreme poverty - a reality that God sees and is heart broken over each and everyday.

I have been to many places in the world and have seen poverty, but this time it was different. This time, God spoke to me and simply said:

"you have been greatly blessed with many things and I have opened your eyes to the reality of the rest of the world. As you have seen and have now witnessed, you have a responsibility to help be the solution."

God's voice was clear. I kept hearing "you have a responsibility," as I walked the dirty streets filled with trash and filth everywhere, complete with smells far less than pleasant. "What will you do to bring my Kingdom to earth?" This is a scary question for me and I have no elaborate answers yet. However, I know that I must do something. And no, I'm not talking about being some sort of heroic savior like the Western World often see;s itself as. I'm not talking about selling everything and moving to Africa either. But, there must be something more that rich, wealthy, healthy disciples of Christ can do to bring God's Kingdom of hope, peace and restoration to ends of the earth.

I read Brian McClaren's book, The Secret Message of Jesus, while on the trip and I believe it was not a coincidence. In it, he suggests that Jesus' sole message is that the Kingdom of God is at hand - that Jesus came to bring life to the full, not for the future, but NOW! His intention was never that "eternal life" would be limited to "life after death" where we just wait around till it came. He gave us the Holy Spirit as a guide to a new way of life, life to the full, that is Christ in us the hope of glory, in order that we may experience the Kingdom of God HERE and NOW. God wants to restore His broken world NOW. He has a SOLUTION and it is "Christ in YOU." God is not wanting to bring us up in to heaven right now. He wants the Kingdom of Heaven to invade the earth.

God wants to work in and through us. It is a big responsibility! Again, I don't entirely know what it means specifically, but it means we must do something. Going to church, singing praises, soaking up messages, giving our tithes is not enough. Jesus commands:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

"and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Will we be the solution?
Will we be the light to the darkness?
Will we be the hope for this hurting world?
Will we bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the earth?

God has given us an incredible opportunity to partner with Him in the restoration of the world. He wants to use us. He is choosing to need us to bring His Kingdom to earth. He wants us to become like His son. The apostle Paul knew and understood this, saying "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Phil. 3:10-11)