Lawnmowers in Church? (An update about India)

I divided this blog into two halves. The picture is completely unrelated. It's the Muizenberg train station, one of the nicest buildings in town.

Half one.

Sometimes I hear something in class that triggers a response. I write down whatever was said (or the thought that it created in my head) and go back to it later to see if it's worth writing about or just worth pondering. I have so many highlighted things in my notebook but I know I'll probably never get to even half of them.

We're learning about our identity in Christ and the authority that we have as believers this week. Our instructor, a Swiss missionary living in France, has done an amazing job of backing everything he says up with Scripture. What hit me today was a great comparison:

"The church is like a barn. You sharpen your tools in it, but then you have to go out to the field to use them."

Now, there's a lot of things that could be interpreted about this that would make that an incorrect statement. Let's focus on what makes that a correct statement though. At church (the building, not the body) we are edified and built up from the pulpit. We are sharpened. What do we do next? Go home and think about how sharp we are? What's the point of even going back to the sharpening stone every week if we don't do anything about it?

What if we aren't sharp enough to do any good in the ''field''? It's hard to know if a tool is sharp enough until you use it. Even a dull lawnmower cuts some grass.

Another great one-liner I heard yesterday was in regards to Matthew 28:19. We are called to the nations, including our home nation. We don't always need to cross an ocean to follow a calling in life.

Matthew 9:37 continues to resonate within my heart more and more every day. "Then He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'"

The other half.

I need more money. If I'm being honest and straightforward, that's a hard statement for me to make. Receiving money has never been an easy task and I struggle to fight that. I'm in an awkward position right now. I have no way to make money, but I still need it. I need to eat, to pay the few bills I still have, to buy clothes when I need them and deodorant when other people say I need it.

Right now I have a goal though, the other half of my program isn't paid for. I posted a handy chart on the left side of this page, it shows how far I've come and how much I still need.

What is this next $3,000 going to? I'm going to India, that's the easy answer. It will pay for my plane tickets, food, accommodations, and whatever else comes up.

My deadline for having money paid is February 20th. It seems like a ways off but the sooner I can pay some of the money the cheaper my flights will be (and ultimately, the less money I need to raise). Every dollar counts. Can you skip a movie and wait for it to come out on DVD and save $7? If every one of my Facebook friends sent that money to me instead I'd have enough money to cover the next 3 months.

Raising financial support is a new concept for me, so I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying about what it means. The conclusion I've come to is that this is less about asking for money but more about creating partnership. I have a will and a desire to be on the mission field. You have money. Can we be partners?