By Tamar Knochenmus
I originally had an entire different blog post written and ready to send off to Charlie, but I couldn’t press the send button. I had a whole lot to say as usual… it was so much longer than what this one will be. It was clever, funny in all of the right spots, and had just enough Bible verses to make it an official missions trip blog. But it was all wrong.
As I’ve prepped for this trip I keep coming back to a conversation that I had with my brother Brian while I was cutting his hair. Just 4 short months ago I was an acting guardian of a hurting teenaged girl. After 4 months of feeding, clothing, sheltering, and providing my chauffer services, I was internally frustrated that she just wasn’t grasping the love of God and wanting a relationship with Him. To me her need was so clear… because I know everything (insert eye roll). My brother had the privilege of listening to me externalize the stink I was feeling. As the [gray] hair fell off Brian’s head, he opened his mouth and shared something that has transformed my way of thinking. He told me the Lord had been laying on his heart an idea of “information vs. impartation” Many of us Christians get so wrapped up in the “information” of sharing Christ with others when we really should be “imparting” it. We are consumed with saying the right things to people instead of just praying over them. * DUH * … can I say duh on this blog? Anyway, I realized when those wise words left his mouth that I had been twisting this little “mission” into something about me and my ability instead of about God and His grace.
This past Sunday night (5/18) a group met to pray over the teams heading to Rwanda and Thailand. My brother brought these wise words up yet again. His words are what I’ve been praying for our team for the past few months… that we would go with a mission of imparting the love of Christ to His people in Rwanda. In the words of Harold Hill I pray that we are “read up & praised up” to go and do exactly what the Lord has for us to do and see what He has for us to see. The feeling of anticipation is great and I’m confident that God is going to be doing some incredible “God Things!”
And because this is a mission trip blog it would only be right to leave you all with the verse that has lead the last 3 years of my life J
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9