Missions Minded

Amber and I have had a wonderful time this week “on the couch.”  No, we’re not in counseling.  Per se.  We’re in a “Debrief and Reentry” program for missionaries at the Center for Intercultural Training (CIT) in Rutherfordton, NC.  (I’ll get to the rejoining the crash part in a minute.)

We’ve had some wonderful discussions this week with our two “trainers,” Jim Head and Laura Mackey, and another missionary family just back from Kenya: Lewis and Jenny Archer and their daughter Kristen.  The sharing times have ranged from transitioning to a new culture, to managing stress, to telling your story, to looking ahead.

Usually it’s hard for me to sit still.  I like to be doing things: accomplishing tasks, achieving goals.  I’m not a share your feelings kind of guy.  But this week has been great for me.  Great for us.  Not only have we made some great new friends (see the picture from our laser tag night below), but we’ve learned life lessons to carry with us during our time in America and to our next field: Nicaragua.

By the way, I (Nathan) achieved the rank of “Deck Officer” last night playing laser tag.  I killed 79 Space Cadets and was only killed 23 times.  In other words, I was Luke Skywalker.  The others were just droids.  But that’s another story.  I want you to hear Amber tell a story.  That’s right, the better half of the Babcock family is going to share some things she’s learned this week — specifically some insights into rejoining the crash. Without further ado, I yield the floor to Amber…

This week we’ve discussed different aspects of trust.  For example, we’ve talked about how we carry our baggage from one place to the next. We bring past experiences to a new team. We view other people through the prism of our past. That’s a natural thing, but it’s not always healthy.  Sometimes we get burned.  And the experience of getting burned changes us.  Maybe we aren’t as open with people as we were.  Maybe we don’t take risks.  Maybe we just give up.  

I’ve been reflecting on our experience in Costa Rica, thinking about the baggage I could be carrying to our next mission field.  Then last night something really jumped out at me in a book I’m reading, “The Barbarian Way” by Erwin McManus.  Erwin (we’re on a first name basis!) explains how most animal groups have unique names or designations when they dwell together.  For example: a swarm of bees, a herd of cattle, a pride of lions.  Erwin continues:

But my favorite of all is the group designation for rhinos. You see, rhinos can run at thirty miles an hour, which is pretty fast when you consider how much weight they’re pulling. They’re actually faster than squirrels, which can run up to twenty-six miles an hour. Running at thirty miles an hour is faster than a used Pinto will go. Just one problem with this phenomenon. Rhinos can see only thirty feet in front of them. Can you imagine something that large moving in concert as a group, plowing ahead at thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one feet? You would think that they would be far too timid to pick up full steam, that their inability to see far enough ahead would paralyze them to immobility. But with that horn pointing the way, rhinos run forward full steam ahead without apprehension, which leads us to their name.

Rhinos moving together at full speed are known as a crash. Even when they’re just hanging around enjoying the watershed, they’re called a crash because of their potential. You’ve got to love that. I think that’s what happens when we become barbarians and shake free of domestication and civility. The church becomes an unstoppable force. We don’t have to pretend we know the future. Who cares that we can see only thirty feet ahead? Whatever’s at thirty-one feet needs to care that we’re coming and better get out of the way.

We need to move together as God’s people, a barbarian tribe, and become the human version of the rhino crash. The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence.

Amen! Wouldn’t it be great if all of the barbarians — all of the Christian dreamers out there – could come together?  We’d be an unstoppable force for good!

It’s impossible to know what the future holds. But that’s half the fun of being human: not knowing what’s 31 feet ahead, but trusting God to lead and direct me!  I’m not saying that I have this perfected by any stretch of the imagination.  But this is my heart: to have faith…and to plow ahead…to follow and obey God, to go out and share the Good News of Hope that I have. I don’t want to keep it all for myself; I want everyone to know the hope that I have because of the grace that God has poured out on me!

Despite not knowing what’s ahead of me, I’m comforted because I’m doing what God made me to do, using the gifts He’s graciously given me. His gifts, His resources, His grace. I feel so honored and humbled to be running the race that God has set out in advance for us to run. I pray that we can all come together.  Encourage each other.  Sharpen each other.  And my hope is that every part of the body will discover their gift and purpose and live it to the fullest.