Beyond My Borders

     The struggle shows in the quiver of a cheek, tremor of lips, and an escaped tear. It comes with a mass of curls shading her face, falling forward with her bowed head. She hides behind its veil. Her chin tucked, she allows the torrent of fear washing over her to be known. Words spoken aloud for the first time, fear revealed, raw and irretrievable. Letting go is a heart wrenching process. 
     Young and eager they come. Compelled to cross boundaries, some like David with his slingshot and others like Jonah reluctant to step on ship.
     But what they don’t yet know, these missionary candidates, is that sometimes the belly of a whale is the safest place to be. Sometimes we need the seaweed around our neck. In the acid circumstances that flow around us God speaks and we give undivided attention.
     Sometimes where God puts us has much more to do with the work He intends to do in us, than through us. His voice speaks in the dark cave, lions den, fiery furnace and in the belly of a really big fish.
     Our borders are more than lines on a map.
     Our borders are more than lines on a map. They are lines we draw in our sand.         They surround us with condition clauses.
     Borders thrive in fear of surrender. They stand like walls in the “too hard,” “too far,” and “too costly” of our lives.
     In ugly cold metal cabinets, hidden in the basement of our office building lies gold, not the earthly kind, but the stuff of heaven. Rows of files with the stories of real people who crossed boundaries for the sake of proclaiming Jesus where He was unknown. Their yellowed letters penned in jungles, deserts and ice are stacked deep. Tales tell of angry mobs, resistance, and triumphant salvation. Yet, they remain unknown and un-celebrated because they were little people who gave big.
     We run like Jonah. We fear like Elijah. We cower like Moses. And we forget the safest place to be is in His will. Always in His will.
     Complete surrender lays no confines. It opens clenched fists to accept his call anywhere, any time or any place.
     Its a complete paradigm shift from what I can to to what He is able. From safe as a location to secure in a position.
     In that place of utter abandonment is glorious freedom to follow Christ beyond my borders.