Hey Cameron,
Do you want honesty or do you want to rally support around your decision? A missionary that knows they are only in Africa for 6 months has it a lot easier. Jump squats are a lot easier when you know its only for 45 seconds. Think about it this way: you have a back up plan, a plan B, an alternative. What if you didn’t? What if you lived in a war torn country, not as a missionary, but as a national that has to deal with it for the REST OF THEIR LIFE. This is what they mean when they tell you its easy for you to come in and be full of Joy because your only there for a short period – 1 year is still a really short term mission trip. It’s easy to make sacrifices when you know that it’s really not a commitment. It’s easy to be decisive about a decision that will only affect the next 2 days of your life. What about a decision that will altar your future for the next 20 – 30 years? When you got married you made a commitment that would altar your future & even your destiny. When you came to Christ, you made a commitment that would altar your future and DEFINITELY your destiny.
Imagine, your savior has just died. You go to the shop and buy some flowers and oils with your friend because that’s what you are supposed to anoint dead bodies with. Since you had a relationship with him, its the right thing for you to do. That stuff costs money, but it is expected of you. You make the long trip from the shop to the tomb and before you arrive you say to your friend, “There is no way on earth that we are going to be able to get to the body.”
The question arises — (They were convinced he was dead) If you knew you couldn’t get there, then why did you buy the spices and oils at the shop? if you knew that there was an immovable stone between you and the dead body – Why go the distance? Why would you make the sacrifice knowing that you would never actually use the spices and oils?
Remember the famous Moravian missionaries that sold themselves into slavery in South Africa in order to reach the slaves? That’s not short term. That’s a decision that will affect your life.
When you get to the tomb of your savior what surprises you is that the stone that is the weight of a small blue whale is rolled away. And the information you are given is, ‘Nothing has changed.’ What is your reaction? Fear – because you know that this glorious life that includes suffering for your relationship with the savior has not come to an end. Nothing has changed except what you thought. You thought you only had to suffer to until the stone. You made sacrifices. You shelled out money. But its all gonna end once you get to that stone. NOPE. This is just the beginning…
If you want honesty – that’s about as clear as it gets. Other than that I have no opinion..
Blessings,
Alipio