In my weakness...

We leave to return to Zambia in four weeks. Four weeks. It sounds so distant, but it is fast approaching, and emotions are running high. We've experienced most of this before - excitement regarding the upcoming travel, sadness over leaving family and friends behind, stress as we wrap up a variety of last-minute details.

But this time it's...different.

When we moved to Zambia in 2010, we were filled with excitement and expectation. Everything we had been working towards since before we started dating in 2004 was finally happening. We were moving overseas - to Africa - to serve as missionaries. We were starting a new life. It was all a great adventure. We were riding on a spiritual and emotional high.

And then things changed. Days, weeks, months went by. That adventure became life. And at times, life was hard. But we had each other, and we had God, and we made it through. What I didn't realize at the time, though, was how much I acted as my own worst enemy, how often I brought myself down, telling myself I wasn't good enough. I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't qualified enough. I was in way over my head. I brought myself so low that, by the end of our first term, I was completely burned out and empty. I needed to come back on Home Assignment.

And I didn't want to go back to Zambia.

I managed to convince myself that I wasn't the right person to lead the ministry in Zambia. I could list off name after name of people I thought could do a better job. People more qualified. People more spiritual. People with more energy, more training, more vision. People with a better relationship with God.

The thing is, I continued to feel this way up until just recently. Even after Tiffany booked our tickets to return, I was convinced that we were only going back by default. We had to go back, because the right people hadn't been found, so we were warm bodies willing to fill in until then. It wasn't until recently that this all began to change.

We were asked to talk about our ministry to the Jr. and Sr. High youth groups at a supporting church. They wanted us to talk about what we do, but more importantly they wanted us to talk about how we got there. How did we know God called us on mission? What steps did we take to get into the field? And it was in reflecting on these questions and preparing for this presentation that I realized that I was actually right. I'm not good enough, or talented enough, or smart enough.

And I'm not supposed to be.

After all, if I were good enough, I wouldn't need God to do the work - His work. Paul knew this and wrote about it in several of his letters, probably most notably in 2 Corinthians 12, where he says in verses 9 and 10,

"But [Jesus] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (ESV)

Paul, this great missionary and leader in the early church, understood that he wasn't good enough. He would never be good enough. And this is what made his ministry so successful, because it kept him from relying upon his own strength and seeking to receive all the glory. Rather, he needed to rely upon Christ for the ability to continue in ministry, and it was Christ who caused the growth, who orchestrated the change, who made the difference, and who received the glory.

As we go back to Zambia, I don't want to be good enough. I want to rely upon Christ. I want to be open and ready to be used by Him, and my "good enough-ness" would stand in His way.

The Fox and the White House

I apologize beforehand for this political nature of this post... it is not typical of what I write here, but I was really disturbed by what I was reading online.

I was about to turn off my computer when I looked at my Yahoo! headlines and was struck by one in particular.  Apparently White House officials - indeed, the whole Obama administration - seem to be rather upset with Fox News.

Actually, "upset" is an understatement.  According to the White House, Fox News shouldn't even be considered a news station at all.  The reason?  It seems that Fox News is the only station that is consistently critical of this administration, questioning many of its policies and attempts at change.  And the President and his people don't like that.  So what do they do?  They go on the other networks that bow to their every whim and blast Fox News for not being unbiased (i.e., for not also bowing before them).

So what does this mean?  I guess it means that those who question the President and this administration should be censored.  After all, that's what freedom of speech and freedom of the press is really all about, isn't it?  Being under the control of those in power?  I guess questioning the President is equivalent to blasphemy...

Granted, children in New Jersey were recently seen singing praises to Obama to the tune of "Jesus Loves the Little Children" (you can find the video if you look for it... I decided against posting it here), but does this make him divine?  I say no.  And I hope you do, too.  I reserve divinity for the One Who made Obama, and all of us for that matter.  Only He deserves our praise.

And I think now I'm going to go pray for our country...