Archive - August 23, 2013

Shhh…Don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to miss this place.

Not the smell of dirty pit bulls after the rain, or walking my laundry across the parking lot to the machines, the barbed wire on the neighboring property, occasional cop spotting, or even that time they towed my car. I’m definitely not going to miss the reaction I get when people say, “you live there????

This place wasn’t our prison, project, or problem; this place was our home – our first home, in fact.

It’s the place we spent our first night as Mr. and Mrs., where I penned my first book, conducted “Adelsberger seminary,” mourned the loss of jobs and celebrated the new ones.

It’s where we’ve seen friends move in and move out. In fact, we’re now the longest residents of this building. And yet, we leave behind a tremendous friendship, friendly veteran, nurse, and the wonderful lady across from us.

As we close this chapter of our lives, it’s natural to ask ourselves, do we have any regrets? Or, if we lived the last 2+ years over again, would we do anything different?

Even if you’re not moving, that’s such a good question to ask ourselves: Will I look back on these days and wish I had done more?

Jesus tells us in the passage nicknamed The Great Commission that we are to “go and make disciples of all men.” That verb “go” in the original language implies “as you go” or “as you are on your way.”

Our living location is our mission field. This one we’re in for the next seven days looks very different from the one we’re moving to. But our command from God is the same. Make disciples. How can we make disciples unless they believe? How can they believe if we don’t speak the Words of Life to them?

This is a mission field where walking past people was easy since we have a building and a flight of stairs in common. But as we move into a house, we will have to intentionally seek out interactions.

What does your mission field look like? Are you using your living situation to bring glory to God or comfort to yourself?