So, I joined Facebook and now I'm hooked. Who would have thought there'd have been so many people come in and out of my life in the last 32 years that I'd forgotten about?? And, even though I had forgotten them, I'm amazed at how familiar they seem again. Funny. All of a sudden the 2nd grade nasty haircut and the flowery dress with the extraordinarily large collar seem so...recent. Yikes! I look at my third grade picture on someone's Facebook, then I look across the room at my son who's stepping-up to third grade today, and I think "How in the world did that happen so fast?" (I'm feeling a tiny bit old at the moment.)
I'm in my prayer group last night and the Lord reveals something to me. I've been praying for a mission field. The Lord has been stirring my heart toward missions, and so I've been seeking Him for a cross-cultural mission adventure. Except none so far has settled in my spirit as the one He's steering me towards. And so I've been looking at my life here...surrounded by believers, working with believers, with my exposure to the world fairly limited to Wal-Mart, the pool and my kids' school. A Mission field, nonetheless. And I've been praying that the Lord would make me more consistently aware of that fact.
Enter: Facebook. Suddenly, I am connected with dozens of people I knew way back then. And at my fingertips is the potential to connect with hundreds more. Suddenly my idea of what life looks like is drastically altered as I become so much more aware that so many people live without the Lord. Suddenly I am thrust into a new Mission Field. What will I choose to do with this? Will I simply spend time reminiscing about the good old days, or will I talk about how my old survive-for-the-weekend mentality has been replaced by a hope for eternity? Will I surface-chat or will I be diligent about re-building relationships? Will I be inentional about sharing how I've died and been resurrected in the last 10 years?
I must say, this is a little nerve-wracking. Without the face-to-face opportunity to re-build relationships with old friends, I am here wondering how do I go about this online, that the Lord would be glorified and not ignored? Yes, a little nerve-wracking. But, I see how the Lord has brought this about as an answer to my prayer for a mission field.
It's funny that He would use Facebook. I LOVE that He'd use Facebook.
I'm blogging about this as an act of intentionality...as a visible means of accountability. It would be so easy to ignore this mission. But....
Agggghhhh! Lord, help me! :)
3 comments:
When you spoke of finding 'your mission field' I was reminded of the concept brought up in the series "Just Walk Across the Room" (Bill Hybles) of cocooning.
"And so I've been looking at my life here...surrounded by believers, working with believers, with my exposure to the world fairly limited to Wal-Mart, the pool and my kids' school"
It stirred stuff in me..ever seen it? If not, take a look at it and let me know what you think of it.
As you know I've been talking with my friend from high school that I found on MySpace. She was the friend that led me to the Lord and now she calls herself an agnostic and shuts down conversations at the mention of God. However, I have found that when I talk to her about my life which obviously greatly includes God she is OK with listening. Basically I showed interest in her seperate from the God issue, and so she is now interested in me in spite of the God thing. I don't hide anything or try to be careful about skirting around my relationship with Christ. But I don't preach at her either. That's how email missions has worked so far for me, and when I saw her in California she even went to church with me.
By the way, I blogged again, finally.
I just typed a big long comment, and didn't like what I said...so I will sum it all up:
I have had the same feelings as you are describing. I hate that this is a hard thing for me- to be real with friends from my past about what the Lord's done in me since then. I hate that I care so much that they might think me a 'religious nut'. I am scared sometimes to be real with them because for so many years during my high school days, I was not real.
Post a Comment