Fear is an interesting phenomenon. I have seen a pride of lions rip apart a wildebeest and I have stood just a few yards away from a hyena. Both experiences were terrifying, yet being so close and so vulnerable to such powerful animals injects an intoxicating brew of chemicals. Yet fear is not always so exhilarating.
Fear’s purpose is to protect from danger, but sometimes the emotions of the moment displaces all fear. While working on a master’s degree, I spent two weeks attending classes in Cape Town, South Africa. One morning I looked out of my dorm window and saw a burglar in the computer lab. All of the students were outraged and about five of us decided to rush down to apprehend the knife-wielding thief. It was only when the adrenaline of the moment dissipated and I was left with the thoughts of what could have gone wrong did I truly feel fear.
Fear can keep us from doing God’s will. I will never forget my first interview in the process to become a missionary. I was asked if I felt ready. My reply was simple, “I’ve never been ready for anything God’s asked me to do.” Those first fifteen months of fund-raising were the hardest and scariest of my life. For this introverted guy, making phone calls and asking for pledges was way outside my comfort zone.
Fund-raising has not gotten any easier. I still dread making phone calls and I sometimes wonder if I can continue in a career that requires such torture every four years. In those moments I recall the words spoken by David Livingstone in one of his last speeches before returning to Africa, “It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink, but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”
Livingstone would die in Africa on this last trip. On Livingstone’s tombstone in the Westminster Abbey are the words of John 10:16, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring.” In economic recessions it is sometimes necessary to remind ourselves it is not a sacrifice to raise money for missions. It is not a sacrifice to give and send missionaries. It is a privilege.
Thank you to each church and person who has taken up the privilege of spreading the gospel to the children of South Africa. We are targeting early July to depart to South Africa, but we still need about $1700.00 in monthly support. If you have not recently given a cost-of-living increase or do not currently give please consider doing so. I thank you for giving and I thank God for the privilege of going.
Fear’s purpose is to protect from danger, but sometimes the emotions of the moment displaces all fear. While working on a master’s degree, I spent two weeks attending classes in Cape Town, South Africa. One morning I looked out of my dorm window and saw a burglar in the computer lab. All of the students were outraged and about five of us decided to rush down to apprehend the knife-wielding thief. It was only when the adrenaline of the moment dissipated and I was left with the thoughts of what could have gone wrong did I truly feel fear.
Fear can keep us from doing God’s will. I will never forget my first interview in the process to become a missionary. I was asked if I felt ready. My reply was simple, “I’ve never been ready for anything God’s asked me to do.” Those first fifteen months of fund-raising were the hardest and scariest of my life. For this introverted guy, making phone calls and asking for pledges was way outside my comfort zone.
Fund-raising has not gotten any easier. I still dread making phone calls and I sometimes wonder if I can continue in a career that requires such torture every four years. In those moments I recall the words spoken by David Livingstone in one of his last speeches before returning to Africa, “It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink, but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”
Livingstone would die in Africa on this last trip. On Livingstone’s tombstone in the Westminster Abbey are the words of John 10:16, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring.” In economic recessions it is sometimes necessary to remind ourselves it is not a sacrifice to raise money for missions. It is not a sacrifice to give and send missionaries. It is a privilege.
Thank you to each church and person who has taken up the privilege of spreading the gospel to the children of South Africa. We are targeting early July to depart to South Africa, but we still need about $1700.00 in monthly support. If you have not recently given a cost-of-living increase or do not currently give please consider doing so. I thank you for giving and I thank God for the privilege of going.
