During the last session of this year’s Passion Conference in Atlanta, Louis Giglio invited all who intended to follow God’s call to take the gospel to the nations to stand, so everyone could pray for them. As I watched a scattering of young people rise in the crowd of twenty thousand, my heart felt two nearly opposite emotions. The first feeling was the one of the pride that a Christian parent has when a son or daughter declares a willingness to follow Jesus to the ends of the earth.
The second emotion comes from the unknown dangers and challenges that face those who God calls. Many years ago my dad expressed this natural feeling as my youngest brother prepared to move permanently to Africa. “Why can’t he tell people about Jesus in our country?” I suggested that much of his decision probably resulted from our upbringing. But what parent is not troubled by distance and danger?
I took Kinsey and her husband to the airport Tuesday morning to catch an early flight. Jordan recently learned he will do his residency in Birmingham for the next four years. The University of Alabama at Birmingham was their first choice for ophthalmology school, and Susan and I are so happy for them. Here at the end of his fourth year of med school, Jordan and Kinsey decided to do his last two required rotations in Africa. They will spend one month in Uganda and one month in Ethiopia working with Christian doctors and nurses who are using their medical skills to serve the poor in the name of Christ.
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus taught us to pray this way; then He modeled how to live accordingly. So today, young people say, “Yes Lord, we will go where you send us.” And mothers and fathers say, “Yes Lord, we will trust You to fulfill Your purpose with our children.”
From Matthew 10:
“As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’” (verse 7)
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.” (verse 16)
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” (verses 32-33)
“He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me… And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (verses 40 & 42)