Monuments: Destiny

"...That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever." -Joshua 4:6-7

Just to be honest with the world, I don't blog or journal as much as I should. God continually does amazing things for me that I neglect to remember or write down, and I feel like that needs to change. So for the next little while, I'm making it my goal to start consistently posting stories about God's faithfulness in my life.

When God dried up the Jordan for the children of Israel, Joshua had them make a monument as a monument to God's faithfulness for generations. While I haven't seen God dry up a river (yet), I've seen him do some things that I certainly can take no credit for! And I want to take some time to draw attention to God's awesomeness over the next few months.

While much of this is a personal endeavor for my own spiritual health, I pray you may find encouragement from the stories I share with you. God-bless and enjoy!

Ever since I was a little boy, God has been writing a "nations" destiny in my life. I sure didn't know it back then, I definitely didn't understand it when I accepted a call into mission work, and I still haven't got the slightest clue of what I'm doing now that I'm actively walking it out! But one thing I know, God has been incredibly faithful throughout each step of my life.

My mom used to read me missionary stories when I was a little boy. I would hear about missionaries smuggling Bibles into the Iron Curtain and standing against persecution in Communist China. I was awed over these stories - and - with a six-year-old's childlike faith - I began asking God to write the same type of stories with my own life. 

Somehow, despite my rebellious and stubborn nature, God has managed to write some of the stories I asked for back then already in my young age! I've smuggled Bibles into Communist China, I've watched God pull a veil over the eyes of security while I walked past with "illegal" Christian materials, I've even been protected from Communist Police, Muslim Radicals, Angry Buddhists, and Demon-Possessed Murderers under God's miraculous care! All these are stories for another time. For now, I simply want to focus on God's faithfulness in getting me to where I am today.

I became a Christian after renouncing some deep sexual struggles I was facing at a ripe 10 years of age. It still amazes me how young the pulls of pornography and homosexuality can affect kids in this age. Not long after receiving the Lord, I re-awoke to the desires my parents instilled in me for foreign missions. I dreamed of being one of those "amazing missionaries" again, and began actively pursuing the Lord.

I began growing in my relationship with God, and I'll never forget the day He told me "start learning languages." I was a little confused. It was so deep a conviction, I had to do it. But what God was asking me just didn't make sense. I heard Him say, "Study Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Latin, and Swahili." Whoa. That's an awful lot to take on at once. EVERYBODY told me so. Even people that were supportive of me learning unusual languages thought that the combination of everything at once was a bit much. But I knew what the Lord had told me, and I refused to back down. 

After having some people poke fun at me for this endeavor one day, I went to the Lord and prayer and said, "God! You said to do this! Be faithful! Use it! Do something!" I got a piece of paper and wrote on it: WHY LEARN LANGUAGES? HE WILL PROVIDE! I didn't know what I was looking for... or how... or when... but I believed. And as seemingly insignificant as learning languages may seem in comparison to casting demons out of people, I consider this one of the greatest acts of obedience I ever did. Not because of it's importance in my life, not because of its applicability, but because GOD SAID SO, I HEARD IT, and no matter what people told me, I WOULDN'T BACK DOWN. 

I continued doing this for about a year-and-a-half until God did something amazing! After signing my life over to a blank piece of paper and asking God to "write my story," I ended up in China at the ripe age of 14-years-old! Not only that... I was working in a heavily Muslim area, and I ended up using my ARABIC to minister to someone! I spent my 8th and 9th grade years dreaming about China and doing mission work with the underground church. I took two trips during these years - one which was a 2-month (1-month by myself) trip into the bamboo curtain! But after my second trip, I got very sick and began to forget about the incredible call God had placed on my heart. 

A year-and-a-half passed before God decided it was time to wake me up again. While God used a time of adversity to grow me and prepare me for even more mission work at home and in other countries, it took a good knock to my skull to remind me of his destiny for my life. But in the midst of all these things, I came across my old paper with the words "WHY LEARN LANGAUGES? HE WILL PROVIDE!" I remember again being filled with my childlike faith and I asked God to do something amazing! And he has...

Now, at the still-ripe age of eighteen, God has awaken a "back to Jerusalem" call in my heart. I barely remember any of the languages I studied so intently back in Middle School, but I know why God had me to do it. He was testing my obedience. Whether or not I would follow him even in adversity. And all the while, He was affirming a call to the nations in my spirit by the languages I was learning. 

I'm now networked into a group of people with a similar heart. To see the CHINESE speaking people take the gospel back through the silk road, to see the SWAHILI speakers take the good news back up the Nile river, to see the "LATIN" speakers bring what Paul took them nearly 2000 years ago, and to see the RUSSIANS bring Jesus from the North - covering the "four-corners" that Ezekiel and Isaiah prophesy about. And how somehow, all these people groups will minister to the ARABIC speakers that surround and inhabit that middle east.  

I sure didn't understand this call when I was six! Nor when I was twelve! And I still haven't got a clue now that I'm eighteen, but I know God is piecing together something amazing. I've had the opportunity to share this burden with quite a few people now, to travel to both China and Uganda, and to see the foundations laid for a God-driven ministry I can take no credit for whatsoever! Who could've predicted God had all this in store when I told me to start "learning langauges!?"

This little story doesn't have much "glitter." There's no miracle, no healing, no near-death experiences... but this story means more to me than just about anything else I've faced or gone through. No matter where I go in life, I can look back at that old piece of paper, and remember that God is faithful to provide purpose if we'll simply trust him! You may not always understand the things that God asks you to do... that's probably a good thing. That means that God is God, and we're not. I figure that this is the best place to start... the weird, quirky little thing I was lead to do that changed my life. God tells us to "be faithful in the little things" - so go for it! Do the weirdness that no one else will do. I promise you that God watches for that. And when he finds those that will be faithful with the little things in life, he gives them more and more and more until they are feasting in the presence of their enemies! Truly, we serve an imaginative, mysterious, and incredible God. Amen.