Looking Back

As [Jesus & his disciples] were walking along the road, a man said to Jesus, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
- Luke 9:57-21 (NIV)

I'm sure there are many things you can get from this passage, but right now I'm thinking that Jesus was telling us ahead of time that ministry is hard! Jesus gave us this "warning" because it's in our nature to quit when the going gets tough. We naturally look for that proverbial greener grass in some other situation.

In my life, I can easily recall our move to Maine a mere five years ago. The Army sent, so we went! But what most people don't understand is that mid-northern Maine is as different a cultural experience from what we knew all our lives as it is going to a different country! We didn't think that then, but that's what we found.

Who would have ever guessed we would have wanted to go "back to Egypt?" Our response was one something like: "GET US OUT OF HERE!" Something like that . . . well maybe exactly like that! But God had a plan and a purpose for our being in Bangor. At the 4 1/2 year mark, some things happened that gave us insight into The Enemy trying to make us "look back" on "better" things:

"We loved New Jersey! Why can't we go back?"

And he made us speculate on what could be:

"What if we were sent to 'such and such' a ministry? Wouldn't that be great?"

But that wasn't God's plan. His plan was for us to discover the name and nature of The Enemy who was entrenched over this area and begin the fight against him (Hopelessness). And we've made some tremendous strides in the last six months! It would be sad to think what we would have missed if we had given up and moved backwards. We have fought through the worst of it and have come to love it right where God has placed us- in Bangor, Maine!

I believe God's plan is not to gather us all in one place so we can be happy, easy and comfortable (and comfort can mean different things to different people). I believe his plan is for us to "go away!" The Great Commission tells us- "Go into all the world!" It doesn't say anything about staying where you are.

At The War College, one of their strategies is: Capture, Train, Deploy. Deploy means send out- that's apostolic (being sent). I believe that's a good plan. In fact it's a God plan. We should be sent out to go where God has rocky ground for us to plow.

It's not easy. No one ever promised us a rose garden (no place to lay your head). But the rewards are out of this world!

Anyone looking back lately? Maybe that situation you're pining for is one you've never been to. Maybe it's one you know well and already chose to leave. Some ministry situations are harder than others, but wherever God has sent us, we can be sure he'll be there with us.