Oh, The Places We'll Go

I had the opportunity to speak at my high school graduation ceremony (just before everyone ran up to the high school gym screaming because of an impending lightning cloud...but that's a whole other story...) Because I had journeyed from kindergarten through adolescence with so many of my classmates, I chose childhood as my theme. I highlighted ideas from All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and then I read from the book Oh, the Places You'll Go! for a portion of my speech. Little did I know the adventure that God would lead me on and the places I would go!

Thinking about that book takes on new significance for me now. We have gone to many special places since we began our journey to Austria, places that have been exciting, challenging, invigorating and exhausting. In November of 2010, we flew to WorldVenture for the first time and were appointed as missionaries. The WorldVenture headquarters became a special place for us. One year ago this week, Nate and I flew to Austria for our vision trip, and God confirmed in our hearts where He was leading us. Last July, we gave up our apartment and began our nomadic lifestyle, and Oh, the Places We've Been since then! We've visited Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, Colorado, Vermont, Massachusetts, and so many places in between. And next month, our journey continues.

We are keeping two running totals for our nomadic journey that are significant - the miles we've driven and the beds we've slept in since July 2011. As each number grows, we marvel at the Places we've been and the journey God has us on. Here's our total as of now:

Miles on the Car: 24,521
Beds Slept in: 33

For us, these numbers represent not only the sheer craziness of our lifestyle right now, but also God's provision for us. God has provided places to stay, generous hospitality, the funds for travel expenses, the endurance through challenging times, and His constancy as we lack stability. It is all by His grace that we have endured and will continue to endure as we approach a season of travel in the next few months. Praise God!

If you're curious about our travel schedule, click here for a summary.

Voices from Across the Globe

I was pleased to come across a series on Ed Stetzer's blog interviewing an MBB leader.  Listening to these global voices will become more and more important as the "church of the south" takes on greater theological and numerical prominence in Christianity. Here are links to number 1 and number 2

It was a comment in the third post that really grabbed my attention. Here is the quote from the post (bold is Ed Stetzer's question and non-bold is the response):

Bob Roberts is a friend of mine and he recently challenged me: "If American Christians loved Muslims like Paul loved the Jews it would change the world." What do you think? It would. So much of it is hospitality toward strangers. America tends to be a very unfriendly environment for the stranger. But a huge Old Testament concept is how we relate to the stranger. If simple hospitality issues were addressed, taking the initiative is important. In my country, you ask somebody how to get somewhere and they're probably going to walk with you there, not just give you some directions. So I think that if the Christian community began taking initiative to practice hospitality toward the Muslim immigrants in their area, that would just go a long way. If we will do it, they will reciprocate. And in that context you will find it very easy then to get into gospel conversations.

What a call towards true Christ-likeness! Imagine if the American church reached out with true christian hospitality to the cultural strangers in our community?  What if we invited them in for meals, built relationships with their community leaders, or even just had a cup of tea in the name of Christ?

So what is the hardest part about all this? Compared to many other cultures, we Americans aren't really all that hospitable. We are very protective of our space.  I am sure we can all think of examples that contradict this, but our individualism bleeds in to our concept of "personal space" (which isn't even a concept in some cultures). This is an incredibly counter-cultural encouragement!

How have you seen strangers welcomed into your church community?

Photo credit: kevinrosseel from morguefile.com