“Everyone should go on at least one mission trip in their lifetime!” I have often heard that statement made. I do not know much that has a more rapid and profound spiritual impact than leaving one’s comfort zone and going to an unfamiliar land on mission. It will change lives…primarily yours. God dealt with me on the shores of Mombasa, Kenya in 1995 in ways that changed me to this day. Since then I have been blessed to lead & participate in mission trips to five of the seven continents over the years. When God leads me to Australia and Antarctica I will have a complete set (maybe I will get a set of steak knives). I already know the language of Australia, “Mate” but I may need to go to Antarctica first. If Al Gore is right it may be underwater soon.
Mission trips involve leaving familiar surroundings, people, customs and comfort to spend time and spread the love of God to others. As we enjoy the familiar surroundings, people, customs and comfort of our usual Christmas season remembering ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ it is fitting to remember ‘The Greatest Mission Trip Ever Taken’. Jesus left the familiar surroundings and comfort of Heaven to come here to change our lives for eternity.
I have gone through some long and uncomfortable travel. I have ‘enjoyed’ accommodations that are not quite ‘Four Star’ sleeping in different ‘beds’ (that is what they called them). I have had the ‘exhilaration’ of automobiles in traffic & driving styles that I never imagined, from racing down unpaved roads in vans with steering wheels on the wrong side to sitting on the back of scooters in the busy streets and rice patties of Cambodia. I have dined on crocodile, python, zebra, antelope and other cuisine that was unknown or cannot be listed (tasted like chicken).
Nothing compares with the mission trip taken by Jesus that began with the first Christmas. He left the comforts of Heaven to journey here ‘on mission’. I find it hard to mumble about sleeping arrangements I have experienced when the first bed of Jesus was an animal feeding trough. In spite of being out of my ‘comfort zone’ I was usually made welcome as people in those distant lands usually welcomed and treated me like family. It would be difficult enough to be rejected by strangers in a foreign land but can you imagine the sadness revealed in the first chapter of John’s Gospel as it tells us Jesus “was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
In spite of that sorrow and hardships we cannot imagine, He remained faithful on His mission trip. Although He was the creator and ultimate King, He humbled Himself by “taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2) He knew His mission trip held our eternal salvation in the balance so He gave His all. As we pause to reflect on life this Christmas let us follow our ‘mission’ and focus “our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12).
By taking the greatest mission trip ever taken, He left the greatest home ever known, suffered the greatest shame and punishment ever experienced He demonstrated the greatest love for us ever known. His mission trip, suffering, shame and ultimate punishment for our sin gives the opportunity to be to all who “receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1). The greatest story ever told is about the greatest mission trip ever taken to present you with the greatest gift ever offered. Receive, open, let His gift change you then share His gift as you go on mission in the days ahead.
