Well, here we are….about to start down a path with so many twists and turns that it’s impossible to see more than a few steps in front of our feet.  We have an idea of where the path leads, but almost no idea about the landscape, creatures and obstacles along the way.  Wondering what I am talking about?

 

Our family is about to embark on a one-year volunteering adventure to Mae Sot, Thailand!  

 

     In the past several years our hearts have been increasingly focused on hurting children-those who’ve been orphaned by war and HIV/AIDS, those who are being exploited, those who are stateless, without an identity and those who are neglected and unloved.  Our hearst break and tears flow as we read the tragic stories of children who have and existence that is so different from the existence of our own children.  Many times, we have had to force the thoughts away because we felt helpless to make a difference.  Recently, we haven’t been able to force those thoughts away and everywhere we turn, it seems that we are confronted with the realities of what is happening to children around the world.

I, (Irislee), have asked God why he allows me to be so torn up about these issues and yet, He hasn’t allowed me to go and help.  It felt like the floodgates of my heart were opening and I wasn’t going to be able to close them again.  We had been planning a family missions trip for next year, but our dream seemed to be growing bigger.  This year at Missions Fest, God seemed to finally give us permission to dream of serving children in a developing nation.

     One of the defining moments for me was when Tony Campolo was speaking.  He was talking about Babylon vs. The New Jerusalem, which we understand today to be the values of our ruling societal system vs. the values of the Kingdom of God in Revelation 18 & 19.  He said

“We’ve told our kids to go to school, to get good educations, so they can get good jobs, so they can make money, so they can buy more stuff.”  This is how we’ve defined a good life?!?!  When surveyed, the number one goal that Canadian mothers had for their children was for them to be happy.  Tony asked the question, “What happened to the goal of  ‘my children would be pleasing in the eyes of God’?  Tony made the point that “When we ask our children “what are you going to do with your life?”, the answer must be “I want to become a  doctor, lawyer, nurse, business person, etc… BECAUSE this is the best way to fulfill the Great Commission.  Any other answer is denying the call of God in their life.”

As the call to go and serve the children of the world has become stronger and stronger in my heart, so has the desire to take our children out of our North American affluent lifestyle and show them the needs of the rest of the world.  As they see the effects of sin and greed on the poor and helpless, my prayer is that they will be freed from the bondage of materialism and selfishness in our culture and given a heart to serve God among “the least of these”.  I don’t have confidence that I can teach these values in an effective way without demonstrating them with my life. 

And so we feel we must go….first, because God has placed a love for the hurting children of the world on our hearts, secondly, because we desire to model serving and sacrifice for our children, but most importantly because God has finally said “Yes, the time is right for your family to go!”