God Changes Perspectives

Well, if you didn't know by now, we did make it home safely. We tried to bring home the weather from France, but it only cooperated a little ways to Houston with the rain. The temperatures didn't follow us. The blast of hot, humid air as we stepped off the plane in Tulsa was mind-boggling, overwhelming... You pick the word. It was HOT and stifling!

For our first meal back in the states, Aimee and I enjoyed a baked potato with BBQ turkey in the Houston airport. Nothing says, "Welcome Home", like a big pile of BBQ on a potato! Then, we had Maria's Mexican when we landed in Tulsa. Real food, home! We then got back to our house where the A/C was cranking like mad to bring the house back down to a 'liveable' temperature (still warmer than Paris), and we got to greet our sweet puppy and cat. We missed our pets!

Sorry that I've not posted again since we left, but it's been crazy getting stuff unpacked, going back to work, answering 300 emails (I'm still behind!), and shopping for groceries. As I said in an earlier post, I hope to post what we learned from the great Teacher.

Aimee and I sat down in a cafe drinking espresso and hot chocolate while we waited to board our boat for the dinner cruise on our last night in Paris. We discussed the trip, what we liked, what we didn't, and answered a question that Randy asked me a few days earlier... "How has this trip changed your perspective?" Randy really meant my eternal perspective or how the trip changed how I view God's kingdom and purposes. So, Aimee listened while I wrote and talked about how my view was altered. I have 10 items to share that I hope will help me to continue this growth.

I won't get to write about all of them today, but I'll get a start. I'd like to have them done by this weekend to be able to share with those who helped us go.

1. Mission trips aren't just about expanding God's kingdom to/in other places, though that is the primary goal. It is also for letting it grow in me! I can go to other places and preach and share the Gospel, but if I don't allow myself to grow in Christ on the trip and bring that attitude back home then the trip wasn't a complete success. I can't be on mission with God and stay as I am. I must become more like Jesus. And, if I am changed, then I come home with a new attitude and outlook that God can use to change here as well as there.
2. God can work despite me. God can/will accomplish His will and purpose. It felt sometimes like I was trying my hardest to get in the way or do things how I wanted to do them, but God still moved, sent His Spirit, and showed Himself faithful. I just need to get out of the way sometimes or see what He's doing and help.
3. The body of Christ is REAL! We have brothers and sisters everywhere. I met many of them on this trip, Au, Pearl, Snow, Teddy, Anna, Annie, etc. These people are giving, sharing, praying, helping, serving, and using their talents as hands, feet, hearts, knees, and elbows in the body. I knew about this concept intellectually; we've studied it in Sunday School numerous times. I've heard it preached countless times, but until I saw it working it didn't come to life. We were with people of three languages (English, French, and Chinese), but we were all able to work together in our own areas. Each person contributed to do more for Him than we could have done on our own. And, the part about each hurting if the other is? That's real too. When something went wrong, or someone was hurt, we each felt it, prayed together, cried together.

There is a passage in Philippians chapter 2 (1-5) which sums up several of these items for me.

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

I want to have this mind and love! I'll post more of my experiences tomorrow. I know Aimee has her own list, so I'll let her post. Keep coming back to hear more, ask questions, and keep us accountable for these things.

Post-Trip Prayer:
Pray that the gospel would continue to bear fruit & His Kingdom grow.

Colossians 1:3-6 -