Growing up in a Missionary Family
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” –Isaiah 1:17
The flea infestation in our new Mexico City apartment was a bit too much for my mom. I was three years old, and the ink on my baby brother’s birth certificate had barely dried when we moved there from Ohio. My parents were starting their life as missionaries, and this was their first gig. The fleas must’ve been part of the welcoming committee.
After the apartment was fumigated, we lived in Mexico City for several years before relocating to Texas. As I grew up, my dad took regular trips to South America as his mission evolved beyond Mexico into Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and even Venezuela. He brought back photographs of himself baptizing hundreds of people in a dangerous-looking river, and occasionally I’d hear stories from other pastors about the important work he was doing.
Basically, he was like the Emmitt Smith of the Great Commission. But instead of rushing yards, he was winning souls in South America.
So when I grew up and didn’t become a world-traveling missionary, didn’t spend weeks in the jungle baptizing natives, and didn’t speak in front of thousands of people in open-air arenas, I didn’t think my mission amounted to much.
Finding Your Mission Field Right Where You Are
But one day my driveway froze over.
The same thing happened with the two houses across street—both owned by widows. My three sons and I grabbed some shovels and for the next few hours we chisled all the ice off those driveways. A few weeks later, one of those widows crossed the street and asked me if I could change the batteries in her six fire alarms.
That’s when I realized that my mission was right in front of me, and though it wasn’t very flashy, it was bigger than I realized. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:13 to “serve one another humbly in love.” Maybe that’s what living on mission looks like sometimes—not crossing an ocean but crossing the street.
The simple act of helping this widow with her fire alarms made a huge difference in her life. (Imagine trying to sleep with six fire alarms chirping!)
Since then, my sons and I have changed lightbulbs, trimmed hedges, rearranged furniture, fixed plumbing, carried heavy boxes upstairs, relocated dead possums, hauled tin cans to the metal recycler (a.k.a. the scrapyard), and, most importantly, helped our elderly neighbors “keep an eye on things.”
In other words, I have decided to become the Emmitt Smith of helping the two widows who live across the street.
So my question for you is: What’s your mission field? What relationships or situations has God put in your life, and how can you live on mission within them?
Additional Resources
Read Week 1: “Know God Personally”
Read Week 2: “Grow in Faith”
Learn More About the Serve My City project.
Learn More About Serving at Gateway.