It’s a beautiful day outside!  March 16^th and spring has sprung in Dallas, TX.  Earlier this morning John, Caroline and I gave out free hugs and water at the St. Patty’s Day parade on Greenville Avenue with our church, Normandy Community Church.  Now at home with Caroline taking a long afternoon nap, John and I are spending this gorgeous day inside, packing up all of our belongings and moving them into the attic.

My heart hurts right now.  We are leaving everything we love and hold dear to obey God’s call on our lives and to serve the people He loves in Mongolia.  I’m sure I will love them too once I meet them, but right now this just hurts and I don’t want to go.  Some are called to serve abroad and they have an unexplainable love for people they have never met.  Some are called simply because the still small voice of his Holy Spirit beckons them to go.  We fall into the latter category.  We love it here in Dallas and if we had it our way, we’d stay right here.  But we can’t deny the fact that we heard His voice.  Jesus has asked us to go to Mongolia and now it’s our choice to obey Him or use our common sense and reason to justify staying put.

Luke 9:23-24 says “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

When I read these words while praying about this “Mongolian adventure”, I felt a tug in my heart to do the very thing that I didn’t want to do.  I knew that by seeking to keep my good life the way it was, I would miss out on the great things God has planned for us.  I’ve heard it said that good is the enemy of great.  So with that in mind, I will trust that it’s worth it and give back everything He has given us here in Dallas. 

Let me just say, eight months is such an awkward period of time to leave.  It’s just long enough to lose your job and requires all the work of leaving forever, but it’s just short enough to tease you into the thought of just not going to the work of it all.  Why go for eight months then?  Why not just three, or make it a full year?  Many have asked us those very questions, but the bottom line is the Church expressed the need for eight months and God specifically told us to fill this need.

The decision to go to Mongolia wasn’t a decision at all.  It’s obeying a command to go into all of the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ.  We aren’t giving up our lives here in Dallas.  We can’t give up something that never belonged to us in the first place.  We were bought with the precious blood of Jesus and our lives are now at the disposal of His plan to make much of Himself.  Salvation is free but following Jesus will cost you everything and it is worth it.