Safety Isn't First

Recently in my devotional time I was praying about how I don't want to just be like any other missionary, any other Christian, I want to make my mark, be bold, a force to be reckoned with. Not just do missions work for the sake of work. In fact I realized I don't even know how to live another life other than a "Christian" life because there was never a time when I didn't know who Jesus was. (It's so refreshing to have an identity crisis every few months, it keeps you on your toes.) How do life long Christians live like this?! Well, many of us live inside the borders of "normal" and "safe" and "logical". I remember back when I went on my first missions trip to Bolivia in 2008. I was so nervous and everyone was reassuring me, "The safest place to be is inside the will of God." I took that as literal, physical safety, everything would be alright I would be safe, but really is that how we are to live? Safe?

I think of the quote from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis when the siblings are asking the Beavers about Aslan, “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
When did Jesus ever promise us we would be safe? He actually warned us about quite an opposite lifestyle of hunger, torture and death all in His name. 
Christians in the middle east certainly aren't safe, and I guarantee as they continue to be obedient to God they are completely inside his will and glorifying him in the midst of horrific persecution. 

We, Church, are living in safety, within the idea of logic. We claim to give our lives to a slain King who rose again from the dead three days later who then went back into heaven 40 days later and said he would come back for us. That's not logical, it doesn't make sense. Explaining the Gospel makes no sense to those who have never heard it before and yet we call it beautiful. However if God calls us to something radical, we sit back in our chairs and think, "could this be?" 

During our Ilumina youth conference a few weeks ago, on the last night of the conference we had a night we call the "Unforgettable Night". We did a reenactment of the persecution that Christians receive all over the world. After dragging our campers out of bed around midnight with (fake) guns and torches and then "murdering" people who professed the name of Jesus, Gallo asked them a loaded question. "Who is willing to live their lives for Jesus, not just with your words or actions but with your whole life?" The majority of the youth made a declaration that night they are willing to risk everything for Jesus. 
Jesus was thought of as crazy, a lunatic really. Wouldn't we all rather be called a lunatic by the world than be told "I never knew you" in eternity. Let's stop looking at safety and comfort as our priority and start living a life worthy of the death of a King. All we need is a mustard seed of faith to step out. 

#YWAM4life

We call ourselves YWAM-ers, aka missionaries that work with Youth with a Mission. We are all very unique but sometimes you can spot a YWAM-er from miles away. 

1. Pants from Nepal, Thailand or India, or all three. Face it, we have either been to one or all of these countries or we know someone who has been to one or all of these countries, and they lovingly brought you back some flowy pants with crazy designs all over them. Extra points if they have elephants on them. 

2. You wear chacos, even if at one point you said you would never wear them. Can't beat the versatility and comfy walking shoe that's a sandal I guess when you go on outreach to Africa, or to the grocery store.  

3. You have a lot of backpacks. Once you become YWAM staff you suddenly find yourself travelling a lot or you find yourself around a lot of people who travel. And over time you begin to accumulate backpacks. I have so many hiking backpacks in my house, and don't ask me how I got them.  

This is me with my first hiking backpack!
It had already been to Bolivia and Ethiopia and I was taking it to Mexico
 for my first time back in 2012! 

4. You make acronyms. Go to the ywam.org website and you will find hundreds of magical schools with awesome names that are quite long and hey it's easier to just acronym it. Just like our name! YWAM! There is the DTS, CSBS, SBS, CTDS, BCC, SOMD, FCYM, SOFM...just to name a few. 

5. You have a tattoo. I don't know what it is about tattoos but having one or getting one after your DTS (wait till after graduation please.) is kind of like your stamp that tells the world, I am a YWAM-er and I mean business. The more Christian your tattoo is the better, is it a cross? 5 points. Is it a single word but holds so much meaning, such as FREE, FORGIVEN, SAVED, HOPE, LOVE, PEACE, PATIENCE or two small words, SEND ME...10 points per word. Is it in Greek or Hebrew? Even better! That's super Christian, they are original languages the Bible was written in so 20 points for that (I have a tattoo in Greek so 20 points for me!) 

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6. You love to GIVE. I have never encountered more gracious people than YWAM-ers. I love how YWAM bases live out their faith. It reminds me of the early church in Acts. "And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had." Acts 2: 44. It's interesting how those who have so little often give the most. Because we all live on monthly support, we get to rely on God in such a raw way and we understand the struggle each missionary has to trust in provision sometimes. Being a YWAM-er is amazingly full of blessing. 

7. You love to talk about which season you are in. We love seasons around here and I am not talking about winter, spring, summer or fall. I am talking spiritually. We often hear the words, I am just in this really hard season, or dry season or happy season or confusing season. Things change a lot in YWAM in very short periods of time so in makes sense, "For everything there is a season..." 

What do you think makes a YWAM-er a YWAM-er? Share your thoughts! And go and know God and make Him known!