Malawi Mission Trip - Day 1

And so the journey begins...

It is trite and cliche to say that our life is a journey, but this statement is true just the same. The question then becomes what will the quality of our journey be and what kind of person will we become as a result of that journey. Before you start snoozing, let me assure you that this is no existential blog on the meaning and purpose of life...I am far too shallow for that.

But journeys can be used to prepare us. In looking through the Bible I find three examples of a journey that was used to prepare the participant(s) for their destination.

The first one is the journey of the Israelites through the Sinai on their way to Canaan, the Promised Land. As a child, I could look at a map and know that it should not take forty years to go from Egypt, cross the Sinai and arrive in Canaan. I mean, c'mon, who was driving the bus? Stevie Wonder? But as I learned more about this journey and Moses' unruly congregation (think of them as the first mega-church in recorded history) the more I began to understand about the purpose of the forty years.

As a rebellious and stiff-necked people, God gave them the chance to enter into Canaan early on in their journey. Moses sent twelve spies to scout out the land and to bring back a report. Ten of the spies came back with a negative report: "We cannot do it. The people are like giants." Then you had Caleb and Joshua who saw the land and the people and realized that God would be their strength and that God would make good on his promise. Unfortunately, the nattering nabobs of negativity won the day and they retreated to the desert. God declared that none of those people who doubted God's ability to provide what he had promised would live to inherit the land, so they wandered for another forty years. God used that time to trim the dead weight and to prove his power and faithfulness to the people. (For some reason parting the Red Sea just wasn't enough proof).

Then there's Jonah, The Reluctant Prophet. His journey to the city of Ninevah took a rather circuitous route when you consider that he was running from God. As someone who has personally tried this strategy I can assure you that it is an exercise in futility. Well, Jonah learned that same lesson, but his epiphany waited until he was in the belly of a great fish. He repented and learned something of God's grace as the fish spit him out on the beach. Unfortunately for Jonah, he did not remember what he learned. Jonah did not consider the repentant people of Ninevah to be as deserving of God's grace as he was. Often, we too have short memories of God's object lesson...especially as it relates to forgiveness, mercy and grace.

The third journey is the three year journey the disciples walked with Jesus. Jesus spent three years preparing them to be world-changers. To be God's method for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the entire world. No to be sure, the disciples did not realize that this was the journey they were on. Unlike, Moses and Jonah, they did not have a final destination firmly in mind when they began to travel with Jesus. But each day they were with the Savior and each time that he taught them more about the Kingdom of heaven they more God was shaping them and equipping them to fulfill the Great Commission.

So as we continue on our way to Blantyre, Malawi - we are currently in the Atlanta airport waiting to board our flight to Johannesburg - I am wondering two things about how God will use this journey: First, how will God use our travel to Malawi to prepare us for our ministry while we are there, and second, how is God using this trip as a whole to shape us, change us, and further mold us in the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. Some moments and lessons will be obvious, others less so, but as long as we remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, as long as we allow God to receive the glory NO MATTER the circumstance then we will be useful instruments in his hands and then we will be able to do what we were created to do: to glorify God and proclaim Jesus as Lord.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel.


Soli Deo gloria,
Michael