Leave Yourself at Home

What advice would I give a first-time missionary? I thought about this today. Why? I have no idea why I thought of it, but I did.

And this is what came to mind: Leave yourself at home. When you go to the airport, leave yourself behind. Leave that girl/boy there and when you come back walk right past her/him without looking back.

What happens on a mission trip that changes you so much? Well first there's obviously the fact that you're in a place you've never been before. But more importantly, you are put in situations where you have a choice: stay comfortable and shut your mouth, or torture the part of yourself that wants to back down, and share the Gospel boldly.

I've discovered that at the beginning of every trip, there are actually two trips before you. One where you let your flesh win: you come to the point where you can share your faith, and let your fear win. This is the trip you regret. The other one is constant discomfort. But it's worth it. You come to a situation where you can share the Gospel and despite everything in you that screams for you to just shut up, you choose to share Jesus. And it's the most wonderful feeling.

And you know? We need to do the same thing every day. When we sit down with our Bibles in the morning, we need to leave ourselves there. Leave ourselves at home. When we walk out the door, we should leave us there and let Jesus have His way.

And sometimes His way is pretty stinkin uncomfortable. But that's okay. Because if we leave ourselves at home, we won't be there to stop Him.