Out of my mind.

I struggled with the Lord about the calling to go from the very beginning. I've felt for a few years that I was being called on the foreign mission field, but I was thought it'd be Africa. Instead, He was shaping me for a future in Honduras. The constant battle about going to Honduras continued on for months, so I decided to tell my family. Soon after, I began telling a few people about what was unfolding. With the exception of less than a handful of people, the overall reaction was that I had lost my mind. It didn't make sense. That's crazy. People weren't shy about telling me what they thought about the decision. But their responses were the same exact ones I had expressed to Lord when He mentioned it to me. It's crazy, Lord! It was then that He reminded me of a verse that I was introduced to while working Crosspoint in the summer of 2007.

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Cor 5:13-15

In Crazy Love, Francis Chan puts it like this: "Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." Jesus didn't call us to do what made sense to this world. Check out Hebrews 11 – the people were nuts. They were asked to be obedient in doing crazy things and they did. An ark with no rain? A child at such an old age? Putting your baby in a basket in the river? Sacrificing your only son? All of a sudden going to a third world country didn't seem so crazy to me. Yet regardless of what He's calling us to, it is our choice to be obedient. The Bible has lots to say about how set apart our lives should look from this earth that we live on. If we are to be His disciples there are expected terms of chosen discipleship, the first condition of which is, according to the Master's words, "He must give up all right to himself." (Matt 16:24) May we choose to give up all rights, remembering that we were bought at a price and therefore our lives are not our own. Dead to self, alive to Christ. "Dead to all one's natural earthly plans and hopes, dead to all voices, however dear, which would deafen our ear to His." – Amy Carmichael