My feet have been on American soil for about 48 hours now. I’ve watched a few episodes of Downton Abbey, snuggled with my kids, and slept a lot. The fog of jet lag is finally beginning to lift; I can feel my body slowly beginning to return to normal. But there are things about me that I pray will never be normal again as a result of this mission trip. Missions changes a person. We learn new lessons and we are reminded of old nearly-forgotten truths through missions. These trips shape us for the glory of God.
Here are five faith lessons I brought home with me from this trip:
1. We can always trust God. That sounds so trite, but that was a big theme on this trip for me. When things don’t go how I plan them, I must lean into the Sovereignty of God. I’ve never had to leave someone home before. I’ve had people back out of trips because of illnesses or work conflicts, but I’ve never left someone in an airport, plane ticket in hand, bags packed, and ready to leave. That happened on this trip. Because of unforeseen passport issues, we had to leave two team members (Andrea and Randy) in Chicago. They arrived 48 hours later, but that travel hiccup left me thinking, “What just happened here?!” When I heard the testimony of the delayed missionaries, my jaw dropped. Andrea told us through tears, “God left me in Chicago to witness to a train station attendant.” Her testimony was an awesome reminder of God’s sovereignty! But truth be told – God sometimes doesn’t let us in on why He does what He does. I pray that I would have the strength of Job: “Though He slay me, still I will trust Him” (Job 13:15).
2. Prayer really does work. I’ve never been on a mission trip where I didn’t have people praying for me. But this time was different. Our prayer efforts were more coordinated and intentional than ever before. And you could tell the difference! Three quick examples of how prayer supported us: 1) I couldn’t hardly walk when I got up to go to the airport. I had a full-on gout flair-up! I selected the least intrusive pair of shoes I could, knowing the pain I would encounter even attempting to put them on. I literally welled up with tears as my wife helped. I tried to put passing airport security out of my mind. Well, an army of people were praying for me. And 36 hours later when we arrived at our destination, I was almost completely gout free! Just a couple of days later I felt good enough to play basketball!
2) We saw such receptivity everywhere we went. I’ve long since learned that I cannot make people come to the Lord. That job is God’s alone. I am but a humble messenger and servant. But the Lord was pleased to make His message clear to a host of unbelievers. The harvest was overwhelming. Prayer plowed that ground! 3) This trip was drama-free. When people laboring in foreign, tense, uncomfortable environments can do so without incident, that is a God thing! We worked to the point of exhaustion daily. But we did so joyfully and peacefully. What an answer to prayer!
3. Loving others better begins with loving God more. Our capacity to love our fellow man and to serve others can only grow as we think less of ourselves and more of God. God personally taught me a very important lesson about loving others. When I am filled with the love of God, the people that irritate my flesh become the objects of my compassion. The less my flesh is in control, the more I am submitting to God. The more I am submitting to God, the easier it is to express his love to those around me. The key to it all is loving God and submitting to Him!
4. I can’t ultimately fix anybody – but I know who can. En route to our final crusade, we passed one of the homes of our partner pastors, Edwin Beltran. My driver, Pastor Gana, began to tell me about how Pastor Edwin was miraculously healed of epilepsy. He was completely healed when he was prayed for – New Testament, medicine-free healing. I listened spell-bound to this testimony of God’s power. Well, at the end of that night’s crusade, my translator, Pastor Tito (who was translating the message into two different languages!) asked if any sick people would like to be prayed for. About twelve or fifteen people asked us to pray over them. The last person I prayed for was a young lady. Through the translator she told me she wanted to be healed of epilepsy. Immediately I thought of Pastor Edwin. I summoned him, and asked him to pray over her. In my mind, he was more suited to pray for her. He had been healed of epilepsy. I realize now that I was sort of spiritually passing the buck because I knew I couldn’t help this lady. After I asked him to pray for her, Pastor Edwin looked at me and said, “But Pastor Rob, I was healed instantaneously when the missionaries prayed over me.” Bingo! God hit me right between the eyes. It’s not Rob that fixes people – it’s God! I prayed over the lady. I believe in faith that God can heal her. Whether He did or not, I don’t know. But I know I did the only real thing I could do to help – pray.
5. We need to rediscover contentment and thankfulness. You can’t possibly go to a developing country and not walk away overwhelmed by what you have in your own life. We take so many things for granted – simple things like hot water, showers, air conditioners, traffic laws, and medical care. So many of the creature comforts we find necessary are absent in the Philippines, yet the people there exude a contentment that many Americans lack. “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). If only we could learn to be thankful for that which we have! God has immensely blessed us. Even our poorest would be wealthy in some of the barangays that we visited.
I hope you will consider going on a short-term mission trip some time. I know that it could be a tool of the Lord in your life!
Rob's Ramblings 