The Cost of Different

There is the saying we hear in church a lot: we are to be in the world but not of it. It is adapted from the verse below: “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."  John 17:13-17 This is a great prayer and worth nothing. Usually I think I do pretty good at not being of the world. However, when I see someone who is godly, someone who has shaped their entire life around the teachings of Christ I can see how far off I am. I am in the world, obviously. I am not of it... Technically. But when I honestly look at how my life measures up to the life of Christ, I realize that I am a lot more like the world than Him. As I see daily examples of the indifference of the lives of "Christians." I wonder if in America Christianity will grow or implode. We idly stand by, say a few prayers or attend a church service every so often, but our lives are no different. We talk the same as the world, we 'stand' for the same things, or at least we don't stand for anything different, in many cases silence is interpreted as agreement; we watch the same things, spend our money the same way and many times Christians try their hardest to look like the world so they will not have to explain themselves. I believe that God can do anything. But, how often do I/we let myself/ourselves be the one(s) that He uses. I guess the more we live in the world and think ourselves a part of it, the more we expect things and we feel that we have rights and entitlement to things. Not that we should be allowing others to take advantage of us, but do we need to live like everyone else? What about counting the cost to follow Christ. "Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’  Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10,000 men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 14:25-33, 35 Just the fact that He calls us to 'count the cost' before following Him should make us stop and think. Our life will not look the same as those who do not follow Him. We may make less money, we may not have all of the comforts, but we should have a different attitude and our lives better be characterized by humility, grace and love. God has chosen us to be His people. We are to be like Him and that is most definately different from being like the world. Sometimes it will hurt. Sometimes it will mean purposely allowing ourselves to be hurt to keep humble and to consider others as better than ourselves. Our lives may not be glamorous, or we might not live the 'high life'. But that is what we have to take into account when following Christ. He wants us to count the cost lest we jump in and decide shortly into the journey that we don't want to follow and bring disgrace to His name. "If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" --David Livingstone, Doctor and Missionary to Africa in the 1800's. Look him up.

True Sacrifice

Lets take a few moments and look at an event in David's life.
2 Samuel 24
Remember the part where David wonders how many people are in Israel so he takes a census. Afterwards, he was convicted of his sin in taking the census to measure the size of his army. As his punishment, the Lord sent an epedemic on the land and 70,000 people died. David says to the LORD that he was the one who had sinned so the punishment should not be on the entire people. The LORD tells him to go to Araunah's threshing place, build an altar and to offer a sacrifice. When David tells Araunah of God's command to build an altar and offer a sacrifice to end the epedemic, Araunah eagerly offers it to him for free. David's response is one that should be all of ours when we are asked to offer something: "I will not offer to the LORD my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing." (2Samuel 24:24)

As we spent our days in Potosi, this was so meaningful to me as I saw it lived out daily.
These people, who had not had much time to prepare for our coming, provided meals for us from their meager supply. And not only that, they served us generous portions. And they did it cheerfully.
As I prepared for this trip, there were many times I wondered how I would pay for it. The job I had did not work out and a month before leaving I did not have a job. There were many who graciously and willingly helped me financially. What a blessing and how very grateful I am!
I purposely did not send out a ton of letters or ask as many people to help that I could have. I knew that I wanted it to cost me something too. I knew that if it was costing me something to go that it would mean more and that I would have to trust God to provide. I didn't expect to have to trust so much but how wonderful to have Him to trust.

I personally have never had to wonder where my next meal would come from. I have never been in such a tight spot that I did not know where I would lay my head to sleep at night. God has always been so good to me. Yet, I hold back to be so good to others.
I hold onto my material goods too tightly. I worked hard for my money and things and I am not very generous with them. Often what I give is out of my excess and does not cause me any "discomfort" or really cost me much.

How these wonderful people challenged my attitute and my heart.They don't have an abundance of anything, yet they share what they do have.

God has given His very own Son. For a people who had done nothing for Him except mock Him and bring dishonor to Him. That was a tremendous cost. And I just toss a few dollars into the offering plate, give a few hours of my time here and there or offer a little bit of emotion to the work of Christ.
What a shame.
May I give more. May I love more. May I hurt for Christ. May I sacrifice, really sacrifice, myself for the furthering of His kingdom.

Bolivia Overview:

So many thoughts and emotions from the 10 days I spent in Bolivia.
It was such an incredible experience and I don't even have the words to express just how amazing it was or know where to start. So I will give a brief overview and follow up with more specifics later.

We arrived in Bolivia on Tuesday, January 1. It was a holiday which meant that everyone was off school and work. Eduardo came with his van with Laura, Rachel and Kristina to pick us up at the airport. We went to the house where we would be staying.  Dr. Jorge met us there and we went over some details for the week. We then sorted through bags and bags of donations. Dr. Jorge would go later to get some more things to hand out in the villages for later in the week. As we sorted through the donations that were given, it seemed like we had a lot; as we got to the villages, what we did have seemed very minute. However, God used what we did have and we did not run out after seeing about 500 people.

We left on Thursday for Potosi (actually villages on the way to Potosi). We had been preparing emotionally for the week but it is a little hard to know what to actually expect when you have never been there. I had seen pictures before and heard stories, but it wasn't until I actually began to see the villages and the people that I was in awe of their beauty. The mountains rose majestically in every direction. The skies were a brilliant blue and opened widely before us. The serenity of the people, their generosity to share what they had: food which is a precious commodity and even their own matresses. Their gracious welcome was humbling.

We were joined by Maritza, a nurse; Eliana and her son Jesus who is a patient of Dr. Jorge; and Carlos, a professional clown. What a joy they were to have along. Maritza, who patiently instructed us how to help prepare the food, washed dishes and served us all week. Eliana who helped out whenever she could and Jesus who was so curious and brought never-ending smiles to us. He was the most adorable and well behaved child any of us had ever seen. And Carlos--he also brought much joy and laughter to us and the children. He also provided advice and encouragement to us. Dr. Jorge gently cared for team members as 6 or 8 of the team from Cochabamba became sick. He calmly found transportation to and from each of the towns that we visited after our bus driver left us in Macha after a 15 hour bus drive on the first day.
We were well cared for by Dr. Jorge, Carlos and Maritza. It was such a comfort to know that God is always with us and never surprised by circumstances and he provides people to be His hands and his face to us.

Probably one of the greatest things about mission trips is that they separate you from your comfort zone and you are made more aware of your inadequacies. God must be trusted. There is no other option. And the beautiful thing is that you get to see him provide time after time after time.