Perspective

Scott Parrish, Associate Pastor at Greensboro First UMC, and a great friend of mine, just returned from a mission trip to Togo.

Where?

Togo. You know, Togo. As in, “I’d like togo to the game, but I’ve got togo to work instead.”

Sorry about that, couldn’t resist.

Togo is actually a developing, West African nation, but in some very real ways, it might as well be on another planet. Other great friends of ours, Revs. Kirk and Nicole Sims, are placed with The Mission Society in Ghana, another West African nation. While places like Ghana and Togo are on the same Earth as Douglasville, we really do live in very different worlds.

Here’s a part of the description of the trip that Scott shared:

“Togo is not your typical tourist destination. In the mid 1990s figures show more than 60% of Togolese were living below the poverty line and that almost 30% of the population die before age 40. Togo has little industry, is primarily agrarian and roadside/small stand marketplace economy. 65% of the population practices subsistence agriculture. It is a labor intensive culture and a survival sort of society where each day is spent in finding food or making a little money for present needs...
The mission team visited the majority of the 17 lay evangelists (Christian preachers in Northern Togo) and were awestruck by the life on the frontier these evangelists are living as they are in predominantly Muslim and animist locations (voodoo culture with idols, witch doctors, and a traditional religion which influences everything!). It was a powerful reminder of the early days of Methodism as common people responded to the call of God and gave up much to go share the gospel…
The team experienced many astounding visits to lay evangelists who live in very modest one or two room huts or shacks. Some lived in 100% Muslim towns, some in remote villages ruled by a chief, and many in indescribable poverty. They often only had a straw bedroll, a pot and pan, and a Bible in their home. A few lucky ones would also have a bicycle for transportation. At one stop in the town of Sokode the evangelist offered us a prayer and then gave the team peanuts and bananas he had just bought for himself. These men and women of God have little but give much!”

As I sit in my office, writing this blog on my laptop computer, wearing my clean clothes and shiny shoes, sipping a fresh cup of good, smooth coffee, I think about my car parked out front, and the brick home that houses my family just down the road and around the corner.

I think of the clean, well-lit, well-supplied school that my oldest will soon be leaving for the day. He’s been safe there, surrounded by books, computers, and a professional teaching staff.

I am amazed at my ability to grow cynical and ungrateful in the midst of so many blessings.

I am reminded that even though my lunch today came from a cardboard box, frozen solid and cooked in a microwave, I share a big common denominator with the Togolese evangelist whose food was cooked outside over an open fire (if there was a meal to be had at all).

We both believe in Jesus. We both say that we have staked our lives on the reality of the gospel, the power of the message, the truth of the resurrection.

We are both different than we used to be…and moving toward a more perfect knowledge of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

We are both motivated by a simple truth: Jesus Christ, the messiah, the anointed one…is not dead. He is alive. And that changes everything.

I don’t know all the challenges that evangelist faces, living in the bush of West Africa. I can imagine that his obstacles are clear: hunger, health, survival. His faith is not theory, it is a way of life.

Our challenges are real, but I’m thankful for the times that they are put in the right perspective. The odds are good that we will all eat today. There is a roof over our heads. But there is faith-danger all around us.

Life in our world can make us think that God only happens when we check in with him on the occasional Sunday morning. Because we don’t live in close communion with God on a daily, hourly, moment-by-moment kind of basis, the “problems” of our lives can overwhelm us. When things don’t go as we've planned them, our own sense of control is threatened, and we can easily make Mt. Everest out of the proverbial “molehill.”

Our church faces big decisions in the coming months. Some of you reading this blog today must no doubt feel as though the weight of the world is on your very shoulders. For all of us, the odds are good, that if we really looked in a new way, a sneaky truth might emerge. The things that matter...the things that last...are right in front of us, waiting to be enjoyed.

SOTH has incredible opportunities ahead. Nobody knows the answers just yet. We’re crowded, challenged, and sometimes seemingly limited by the realities of space and budget.

What incredible problems to have! We are not heavy-laden, we are blessed with abundance. Sometimes, we just need the right perspective, and a reminder of our purpose. Togolese faith is a good reminder for me today.

May God use his disciples at SOTH to build his kingdom in the world.

He is alive, and that changes everything.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

LIFE AT SOTH:

See you tonight at 6:30, in our worship space for Lesson 2 of our study, Good to Great: First Who, Then What.