NOTE (1/12/18): We’re all learning and growing.  Some of the stuff I’ve written in these old posts may no longer be exactly what I believe or think, or at least may not be articulated the way I’d do it nowadays.  I preserve them in an attempt it to be transparent about my journey, and in the hopes that readers may still glean some insight from the core ideas found here.  Thanks for journeying with me!

You’ve all probably read many “mission trip reports” and “what I learned on my travels” articles before, so I hope to stay away from all the conventional stuff that we’ve all grown jaded towards. I could say many things about the trip to Kenya and South Africa I’ve been on the past 6 weeks, but I think that unless you were actually with me, you might not catch the real weight behind the words.  For example, “be thankful!”  “do good things!”  …Yes, thanks Nathan, anything else inspiring that you’d like to say?  I’ve been thinking that most of the lessons we need to learn aren’t new ones, simply ones that make it past the callouses and into our brains.  This is otherwise known as renewing the mind.  It’s good stuff!  So, I’ll share what I can, and pray that it will be relevant and that I can accurately convey the things I saw and the wonderful experiences on my adventures in Kenya and South Africa.

I might as well start out with the biggest thing I’m amazed at in the first 24 hours since being home, and that is the fact that I actually live in North America.  The things that we have, the influence we have – I think most of us don’t realize what an incredible thing it is to have been born and raised in a culture like ours.   And thus we don’t realize the opportunities we have to impact the rest of the world.  After reading the paper a bit today, and hearing all this stuff on how the world is supposed to end (thank you for making Christians look like sad, gullible creatures again and skipping over Matthew 24:36…we still love you though), my thoughts were basically, “man, we need to get out more”!

For those of us who live in such influential countries, we gotta realize that we were born with a loudspeaker in our mouths.  Do you know how many people I saw people wearing T-shirts that said things like Santa Cruz California, and Philadelphia Eagles, and watching TV programs like American Gladiator and Two and a Half Men?  They had a weeklong show down at the beach with all the Harley-Davidson bikes you could imagine.  They watch movies from Hollywood, and listen to preachers like Joel Osteen and Curry Blake (Curry mainly among those we connected with, no surprise there).  Do you see people around you wearing shirts of random sports teams in Tunisia or listening to the top 40 hits in Czechoslovakia?  Not so much, although for the record I’m surprised rugby isn’t a bigger thing here.

My aim isn’t to make you feel a swell of patriotism.  But I do want those of us in influential countries to take account of what we’ve been given (Matthew 25:15).  We have to realize that people are watching us.  Everyone in the world is born with the ability to change the world, but I think it’s fair to say that some have a headstart on it.   And might I suggest that if you are reading this article, you are probably one of them, to some extent.  If a hermit in the woods decides to waste his life doing nothing, it doesn’t affect that many people other than himself.  But if someone famous decides to be irresponsible and waste his life, guess what all his followers are going to do?

I just want us to realize what we have here.  Have you flown on a plane?  Have you eaten in a sit-down restaurant?  Do you have a fridge?  Can you use the internet?  You’re living the high life!  And Jesus said, “to whom much has been given, much will be required”  (Luke 12:48).  This isn’t supposed to be a guilt trip, it’s to just get us to wonder, “man, how did we end up with all this?”  And to get excited about all that we can do with it, so that down the road others will benefit from what we gave with what we had.  That’s all we need.  I mean, God wouldn’t have put you in a position like this if He didn’t think we could handle it.  Just cuz we’re rich doesn’t make us evil.  It just makes us more responsible.  So don’t go throwing away your computer and microwave, just use them to change the world, that’s all!  Freely give as you receive (Matthew 10:8)!

I will hopefully get around to giving the full report on my trip soon; let’s consider this a prelude to the main piece.  Much love to all those who supported me throughout the trip!  Live it real.