I was lying flat on the bed in the hotel room in Brazil with tears streaming down my face.
This wasn't how our trip was supposed to go.
I had dreamed for years of taking my teens on a mission trip, and here we all were stuck in two small rooms with just each other.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
If anyone knows me, I don't miss out on any adventure or experience if I can help it. And yet, here I was, missing out on the biggest, greatest kind of adventure...and not just me, my family too. The tears came frequent and heavy.
I've put off writing about the rest of our Brazil trip because most of what happened for me after we were quarantined happened in my heart, and a mission trip is supposed to be about others, right?
Yet here I was, with my heart running down my face.
Sometimes God seems so silent.
And sometimes, we know He's speaking.
In the middle of my sadness, my pity party if you will, God's soft voice spoke to me.
He said,
What if I brought you 5,000 miles to tell one person what I did for them? Is it worth it?
What about the thousands of dollars that were spent? If one person believed the gospel, is that worth it?
What if you spend the rest of this trip in this room, and you only got to see one person get saved. Is it worth it?
Is it worth one?
Honestly, I wasn't sure. And there were more tears, lots of tears.
Then I remembered.....
God, HIMESLF, left the greatest place, traveled an incomprehensible distance, gave up everything, and became the worst thing (sin), so that
I.
MIGHT.
BE.
SAVED.
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor. 5:21
Meet the Bone family - Phil, Eva, Alana, Thomas, and Ryanne.
Eva and I have been friends for almost 25 years. We met while doing mission work together in Tennessee. Sometimes bonds don't give. That's the friendship bond we've had that's kept us in touch and visiting over the last 25 years. I love her family. I value her friendship more than she knows. I love it that our kids are friends.
Eva and her family are flying out of the USA today and moving to the Czech Republic.
TODAY.
God has called them to a city of 90,000 people. A city where there is only ONE evangelical church with NINE members. Most of those 90,000 people have never even heard the name of Jesus. They have no idea who He is, and what He has done for them.
But the Bone family is going. They are going to tell them. Today.
We don't live close in proximity - they are from Georgia, and I'm still in Arkansas....but I have watched their journey this past year on Facebook.
I have watched them literally give up EVERYTHING.
They not only sold their home, but they also sold everything in it.
And I cried silent tears.... all the way from Arkansas
Tears that said, "My heart is aching for the bikes, books, games, and toys your kids had to let go. For the car and clothes and yard and schoolbooks and piano Eva had to let go. For all the things that said, 'This is our life in the USA,' that they no longer have."
They let it all go.
But then the hardest part -
I've watched them say goodbye to the people they love the most - parents, grandparents, brother, church family, friends.......
More tears. Lots of tears.
Because I know! I KNOW the people they are leaving behind. I love them too. And it's hard. This goodbye is excruciating.
Is it worth it?
They have said, "Yes." They have listened to the command to "Go and tell all nations the Gospel of Jesus Christ." They have given up everything they know and own. They have packed up what's left of their whole lives in 15 suitcases and will get on a plane today to go and live out the call of the Gospel in the Czech Republic.
Is all this worth the Gospel?
Is Jesus worth......sacrifice?
There are people there in Ceske Budejovice that have an aching in their heart to hear about Jesus and to know Him. God's plan is that we tell them.
The Bone family is going.
Will you pray for them?
Perspective - The Gospel is worth whatever sacrifice we make. Whether it's a trip to Brazil that didn't go as planned or giving up all to go live across the ocean, OR an uncomfortable conversation with your neighbor.
If you know Jesus, you have to know that He is worth sharing.
What will you do?
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
