Where Will You Go Next?
Pure, but joyful exhaustion after a day of work.
This past week, Trey and I, along with our entire family, headed to San Antonio, Texas on a mission trip with about 75 other kids from our Youth Group at Church. Graeme and I have been on two mission trips, but I think the rest of the family has been on six or so. To say we get a kick out of them is an understatement. I will not lie to you and say it is all fun and games, because it is not, but it is a week filled with love and a week filled with hope.
One of our amazing homeowners.
Hope for the individuals homes who we work on, hope for these kiddos that come to do the work, and hope for me truthfully. I can’t begin to tell you how much hope I gained from this trip. Seeing these kids work as hard as they do, seeing the homeowners believe in something, and hearing the word of God all week is something I will always be grateful for.
Oddly enough the message this week and the theme was ATLAS….where to next? Where are you headed and what maps are you using to get there. A message I so needed to hear and one I am so glad my kiddos heard. One I hope they take with them always.
The gist of the message is we are all on a plane headed somewhere. We all have been given maps we are using. These maps can be your friends guiding you, society, social media, culture, family, you get the idea. We are all taking cues from someone or something. Some of these cues are harmful, some are helpful. Some cause happiness and positivity while others cause harm.
What we do with our maps is key. If the map is good and leads us in a positive direction by building others up, using positive words, and makes the world a better place , then we are headed in the direction of Jesus and we continue to use it or listen to it. If a map causes harm to yourself or others it needs to go. If it breaks people down to make yourself feel better, gossip, harmful words or harms the earth then these maps are the the maps that move us away from God in the wrong direction and we really need to let them go.
Good news is….no matter what direction you are headed, even if it is the wrong direction, the story of God is a story of hope and He is always waiting for you to pick up the maps to lead you to Him. He wants to be your compass. He wants to be your North Star and He wants you to grab your passport and move toward the destination of love. Sure there will be turbulence along the way and when there is we need to look at our maps and see which ones are leading us in what direction and then WE get to decide which way WE want to go and where WE will go. My hope and Jesus’s hope is you will choose the direction of love. You will choose Jesus.
This is hard! Trust me I know. It is hard to follow Jesus and move towards love. I fall prey all the time to maps that are harmful. It is my insecurity that brings me there. The what if’s. What if my friends won’t like me anymore, what if I am not pretty enough, what if I am not cool enough, what if I dress weird, what if I am not young enough, what if I bore them because I am choosing love, what if….what if….what if…..OR how about I will just do this one more time and then I am going to be good, or I will go even though deep down I know it is not what is best for my family, or I am going to gossip about someone to make myself look better. I promise you I have been there. I go there all the time really, especially when I get lazy and do not do my first 15. But, when I do I know I can repent and take a u turn and head back in the direction. In the direction of love.
I know God wants to transform me to become love and He does not want me to get caught in the murkiness of life. He wants this for you too! I just know it.
So my prayer will be simple from here on out. From here on out my prayer is, “Jesus, where to next? What will you have me do today?” This my friends is a simple yes in the right direction. Will you join me? Where will you go next?
