You either went on a missions trip in recent months or you probably know someone who did. I've heard the testimonies of people as they return, and they're just like glowing. When you're on a missions trip, prayer seems more powerful, the Bible seems more alive, people get closer, God seems more real and powerful, and you feel more fulfilled because you've done something eternally important. God's used you to actually change some lives! No doubt, a missions trip is like a "Kodak moment" in your spiritual life. So if it's that powerful, why not make your life a year-round missions trip?
When we took our Sunday afternoon drives into the country, I usually had a plan in mind, but I didn't always tell my three kids. I just called it a mystery trip. Well, that didn't cut it with our oldest son. Here came the interrogation: "Daddy, where are we going?" Followed by lots more questions about what we'd eat, how long would we be gone, what was there to do? Finally, I just looked in the rear view mirror, I smiled and answered with two little words, "Trust me."
I love it when our son-in-law just sits down at a piano and starts playing. Those years of music training really pay off when he touches a keyboard. I had the privilege of being at his senior recital in college, and it was a memorable performance. After wards, there was a line of people up there congratulating him on that performance. Oddly enough, I did not see anyone complimenting the piano.
My friend Rick had a day he could go hunting. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find his glasses. So he grabbed what he could find—his wife’s glasses. At one point, he positioned himself in a tree, put those glasses on so he could use the sight on his rifle, and finally, he decided it was time to get out of that tree. He looked down, and said, “Okay, it isn’t far, I’ll step down.” Well, in his words, “I just kept falling and falling and falling.” He had the wrong glasses on, so the ground looked a lot closer than it really was.
One hour before our friend Linda called for prayer, she, her husband and brother - valued co-laborers in God's work, had just been in a serious accident - a triple rollover. Her husband, Scott, had been sleeping in the backseat and he'd been rushed from the scene with massive injuries. Linda was injured herself, but at least she was able to call. She commented that the accident had given her the opportunity to talk to five of the first responders about a relationship with Christ. A few days later, as her husband was in one of several major surgeries he needed, her daughter wrote, "Right now, Mom is sitting with a technician, telling him about Jesus."
