| Plan B
So God gave me everything I wanted last semester. I wanted a cell phone, and I got a sexy looking flip phone. I’ve wanted an SUV since before I started driving, and I got a ’92 Jeep Cherokee for $2000. I wanted close friends, and I got two. He even gave me a few easy jobs that paid really well so I could satisfy every little whim. I was “cool” and instant gratification was my goal.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t turn away from god—in fact, I think I turned toward him. It was just for all the wrong reasons. So God said, “Ok, Lynn, lets try your way first”. Here is where my new-found freedom of my own car and my own cell phone come in. Add school, some super close friends, and making some good money and you get my life. Was it amazing?! All I had hoped it would be?? No. It sucked.
Alright, God, now I want joy and fulfillment. Now I want purpose and direction. And God said, “Oh really, Lynn?! Those things didn’t come with the Jeep, the cell phone, the friends, or the money??”
“No. Can you help?”
“Why did you want those things in the first place?”
“I was wrong. Can you help?”
“Yes, but you’re not going to like it”
“Ok.”
“It’s going to have to be a Plan B, but not your plan b."
“I’m ready”
“Are you?”
I want to you sell most of what you own. Yes, this includes your beloved SUV and your sexy cell phone, maybe even your ipod. I want you to move to a place where you won't have any friends, actually, not only that, but also to a place where you wont know the language. I want you to pool your money with your families money and live the way that amount, divided by seven, dictates.
You are going to live simply. You are going to be uncomfortable. You are not going to be “cool” in the eyes of the culture. No, you are going to be a foreigner. And the worst kind too—a missionary. You are going to have to eat disgusting food sometimes just in order to survive. You are going to get dirty. You will have to do trivial and unimportant seeming work. You will not be recognized as “Lynn, The Amazing”. And credit will never be given to your name. The work that I have for you in the Dominican Republic will not turn around the disgraceful society or start a revolution. But, it will impact one soul at a time. And that’s my doing, not yours. I help people live deep.
This is where joy and fulfillment come in. This is where purpose and direction abide. If you would only follow me even though you are fearful, unsure, and skeptical. If you would just believe me when I say I love you. If you would open your heart and your mind up to the grace and the peace of following me.
Your eyes will be opened to my spirit and you will join me in my work. Your body will be aware of my presence and you will humble yourself and serve. Your values will be turned around and I will instill in you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts. So stop trying so hard to think that they are. Lose yourself, lose your life, and, most of all, lose the attitude—I can’t stand it.
*You can’t find something you never lost in the first place |
