A couple weeks ago I decided to start re-reading "Velvet Elvis", a book by Rob Bell. It's such a great book... I really recommend it if you haven't read it! There is a certain passage that really stuck out to me...
"Missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there. It is almost as if being a good missionary means having really good eyesight... you see God where others don't. And then you point him out."
Isn't that great??? There are so many times where I see places that look so violent or evil, or have had such horrible disasters and I think... man, we've got to go there. We've got to go spread Jesus there. Or when we go on mission trips it's all about "bringing jesus" to these places.
But what I've been realizing is that that isn't the case at all. God is ALREADY there. God is active and working and has his handprint on every little bit of everything in the world. In the AIDS epidemic in African, in the rubble at Haiti. Doesn't that bring so much hope?! We don't have to carry the burden of bringing GOD to every place that is in trouble! What a heavy burden to bare! And also, what hope for people who are in those places... to know that God has not forsaken them; that he is there just as much as he is in the most vibrant church or powerful worship service.
Jesus is already there... we just have to open our eyes and see him.
And when we see him, we can't be quiet about it.
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