"I'm Not Called"

I feel like we all too often forget just how blessed we are. I once thought that being in Uganda would keep me reminded of this fact. Although, I've found that I get so caught up in the craziness of life here, that I forget to stop and smell the roses (or shall I say exhaust) every now and then.

One of the rare moments I have alone to myself each day is when I'm on the boda riding to and from school. I typically pop some sunnies on and put on some feel good music on my iPod. With the wind blowing in my hair and the harsh sun warming my skin, I can finally have a few minutes to think.

It's on that ride home from school each day where I am reminded that I'm a pretty lucky teacher to be given a kitten by my P.4 students. Where I think about how blessed me P.4 class is to have a whole collection of school supplies, donated by junior high students in America, to use each day. And as much as a majority of the Ugandan men drive me crazy, I love Uganda.

I sat down at the dinner table last night, when Margret Mae set a chapati she had bought for me, down at my place setting. Little did she know, I had been craving a chapati all day long, but I was much too busy at school, never having a chance to walk down the road to purchase one.

I have been blessed beyond measures here in Uganda, but I've only been blessed so that I can further bless others.

My mom commented that now that I have been given a kitten (which I named Milo), I am never going to leave Uganda. I'm sure I'll leave Uganda eventually (when my kitten dies), but I'm not quite sure where I will end up next.

God has given me the gift of teaching, but he has furthermore commanded me to go. "He has created each of us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose is unbiblical Christianity" (David Platt, Radical).

When I read that, I was rather convicted. Missions is not a two week or even two year long thing. Each of us, all of us in fact, have been commanded to go. Missions is something we are commanded to do throughout our lives. "God loves me so that I might make him--his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness--known among all nations" (David Platt, Radical).

So, whether I stay in Uganda, move on to England, or settle back into California, I will go and make disciples, because that's what I have been commended to do. I don't know where I will end up down the road, but I am confident that God will lead me exactly where he desires for me to be. I will continually choose to go into the world, wherever that may be, and share the gospel.

I will close this posting with another excerpt from the book Radical by David Platt. He titles this segment, "I'm Not Called."

"I wonder if we have in some ways intentionally and in other ways unknowingly erected lines of defense against to global purpose God has for our lives. It's not uncommon to hear Christians say, 'Well not everyone is called to foreign missions,' or more specifically, 'I am not called to foreign missions.' When we say this, we are usually referring to foreign missions as an optional program in the church for a faithful few who apparently are called to that. In this mind-set, missions is a compartmentalized program of the church, and select folks are good at missions and passionate about missions. Meanwhile, the rest of us are willing to watch the missions slide shows when the missionaries come home, but in the end, God has just not called most of us to do this mission thing. But where in the Bible is missions ever identified as an optional program in the church? We have just seen that we were all created by God, saved from our sins, and blessed by God to make his glory know in all the world. Indeed, Jesus himself has not merely called us to go to all nations; he has created us and commanded us to go to all nations. We have taken this command, though, and reduced it to a calling--something that only a few people receive. I find it interesting that we do this with other words form Jesus. We take Jesus' command in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations, and we say, 'That means other people.' But we look at Jesus' command in Matthew 11:28. 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,' and we say, 'Now, that means me.' We take jesus' promise in Acts 1:8 that the Spirit will lead us to the ends of the earth, and we say, 'That means some people.' But we take Jesus' promise in John 10:10 that we will have abundant life, and we say, 'That means me.' In the process we have unnecessarily (and unbiblically) drawn a line of distinction, assigning obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for us all. In this way we choose to send off other people to carry out the global purpose of Christianity while the rest of us sit back because we're 'just not called to that.'"

Oh, and here is an adorable photo of, Milo.