Because Erika Told Me To: Lose sight to gain vision

One of my heroes of the faith is a guy named John. He's lived in Haiti for about 22 years now. I don't know him super well but well enough to think that he would not necessarily want the word hero to be in the same sentence as his name, unless the sentence was "Jesus is my hero and, by the way, I know a guy named John."

So I'll start again. Jesus is my hero and I know a guy named John who's lived in Haiti for a long time. He has this tattooed on his arm:

Lose sight to gain vision.

I've been in mission trip hell for the last month or so. I'm not sure if you're allowed to use the words "mission trip" and "hell" together in a sentence if the context is anything other than "I'm going on a mission trip to save people from hell." But I'm just keeping it real.

Over the next 30 days my goal is to get approx. 200 people to three countries and one state on various one week long mission trips.

I love my job and I love watching people encounter Jesus in new and deeper ways as a result of serving on a mission trip. But somewhere in between coordinating flights to the Peruvian jungle for dozens of people and explaining for the 57th time why bringing old clothes and expired medication to Haiti is not very helpful, my sight became near-sighted and I lost the vision.

I started worrying that our teams were going to be more of a burden than a blessing to the friends I cherish in both Haiti and Peru and our presence in these countries are going to hurt their ministries more than it's going to help. I started worrying for all of these well-meaning American Christians who are used to doing things their way when they want to and how they want to that the shock of being in countries where flexibility and adaptability are a necessity of life would be too much for them to handle and they would come home hating me and Jesus and the countries they are going to "serve."

See, worry is what happens when you lose vision.

I have no doubt that our 200 short-termers are going to drain the Heartline team and Ricardo's team. They are going to steamroll into these countries partly afraid but partly convinced they've got all the answers for both the local people and those who have chosen to give their lives away in serving them. They are going to be demanding and difficult and impatient and there will be sighs of relief when June is over and things can go back to normal for ministries in these countries.

I also know that I'm going to screw up things for both the 200 people going to serve and the teams on the ground preparing to receive them. I'm going to forget things, convey wrong information, irritate people (even just from writing this blog), and add to the overall chaos in ways I won't even know.

It's going to be a messy month because we are messy people living in a messy world.

But I also have no doubt that Jesus is going to be present and real in some very incredible ways over the next 30 days. People's lives are going to change forever. People are going to become more and more like Jesus because of these trips. Those who are going to serve will realize how deeply God loves the poor and they will start to love the poor, maybe for the first time in their lives. Those who are on the ground welcoming our teams are going to learn how to serve and wash the feet of those coming just as Jesus washes theirs. Those native to the countries we'll be going to who don't have much are going to teach us that having stuff isn't what life is all about. We are all going to learn from each other in miraculous ways over the next 30 days and the world will be different because of it and God will smile.

So I'm going to choose right now to lose sight of all of the things I am worried about and instead gain the bigger vision of what God will do with the next 30 days. Because He will do great things, for He is a great God.

Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

-Psalm 46:10