Leftovers are yucky

Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God’s point of view (and lest we forget, His is the only one that matters), they’re evil. Let’s stop calling it “a busy schedule” or “bills” or “forgetfulness.” It’s called evil.

God is holy. In Heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have. “But something is better than nothing!” some protest. Really, is it?

Crazy Love, P.92

Does this convict you? It convicts me. How many times have I offered less than what God is worthy of? I’m not talking about financially giving necessarily, although that is a part, I’m talking about me. All of me.

Lately I’ve heard a lot of complaining from short-term missions teams and not just from SCORE teams (in case I get fired :) lol but it’s true… I’ve got a LOT of different ministries represented on my FB).

Air conditioning is not working, it’s hot, there are mosquitos, the food isn’t good, the TV isn’t working… AH, the satellite went out and I missed .5 seconds of the World Cup.

OH.MY.SOUL!

Friends if you are coming on a mission trip don’t expect it to be comfortable!!!

It’s going to be hot and sweaty, the people are going to be dirty and they are going to have GERMS! Electricity will go out, buses will break down, you are not going to have organic milk or Splenda and the internet is not going to be top quality. But QUIT THE COMPLAINING! You are in a third world country!!!

It actually makes my heart sad. Yesterday I had a bit of time to think about it as I sat in the dark on my porch because, YES, the power was out. I thought… wow…  we hear testimonies from people who “gave their all to Jesus” to spend a week serving in the DR, Mexico or Africa, then complain because it’s not comfortable.

Friends, we are SO thankful to have people give up a week or two to come and serve beside us… but if you are coming then TRULY give up those weeks.

Give up comfort.

Give up the “expected.”

Be flexible.

Yesterday we picked up a homeless boy for church and I thanked God he couldn’t speak English since he didn’t understand the complaining.

Pancakes were cold? This is the first thing he had eaten in 2 days.

Church service was long? This was his first time at church… EVER! And he was excited J

Seats were hard? He sleeps on the street.

Let’s agree to give all of ourselves as we serve.

Here’s a glimpse of mission reality:

I’ve lost count of when the electricity goes out, I just keep candles in I place I can navigate to in the dark.

We have a rat that visits our closet every night and has eaten a pair of my flip flops and although the package of rat poison says “the contents of this package can kill up to 15 rats” this little sucker is a survivor!

We don’t have air conditioner or a generator… and we are alive.

1.5 weeks before the end of the June we ran out of support because of bills and moving costs (even though rent is cheaper) so the dogs and us had to eat cereal almost every day until July’s support came in.

The last time I bought an item of clothing for myself was in February when I visited the states.

Trust me, this is not a sob story because I can tell you about fellow missionaries and local friends who have it WAAAAY tougher… but please understand, we are SO HAPPY!!! It took me a while to think of those examples of “struggles” because that is the norm now! But I can tell you in no time of all the blessings that we’ve experienced this week alone.

Girls want to leave the streets.

A homeless boy came to church and will attend camp with us!!!

A group of people at church got baptized.

Lily House girls are pumped to work at and attend camp!

A group bought pizza for Robersy’s baseball team and they stuffed their faces :)

We go to camp tomorrow (as do over 200 teens!)

More than this… we have families and friends who love us and support us. We have a ministry team who work their butts off, but take the time to encourage each other. You see… when you give Him everything, the blessings abound!!!

“This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have.”

Whether that’s on the mission field or wherever you are… don’t give Him leftovers!