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An
excerpt from
the 1st chapter of Off The Map
Going
to the nation
In case you were wondering, I happen to come from a healthy lineage of
sceptical Canadians who truly believe, either from a sense of superior
evolution or from a simple lack of evidence, that the amazing things
done and seen in the Bible could never happen in our nation here and
now. Understandable, then, when Russ and Justyn said in May that they
wanted to have the mobile theatre up and running by July 1st, from my
mouth escaped volumes of doubt. Even until July 1st, when I stood
before the entire thing in its completion, I spouted my disbelief.
Why is it, while on short- term missions in Asia, I could believe for
the world, but here, at home I couldn’t believe for one bolt.
Could it be that my faltering had everything to do with my fear of
going to this nation that I love, at the risk of being rejected or of
failing right in front of those who know me? I suppose so. I
could’ve tried to escape it by saying, “Well
I’ve just not been called to do that kind of
thing.” Unfortunately, my husband was quite certain he had,
and pulled me along.
As
thankful as I am that he did, I respond to the question, "Would you
ever do that again?" in the same way I do after giving birth to
children. "Give it to me without the pain and I would do it every day."
Our 'on the street' project was full of this gift called 'adversity' -
some physical, some relational, some spiritual - yet it was underscored
by the joy of watching God work His miracles in even the most hopeless
of circumstances. I've concluded that it is all part of the glorious
process of being laid out before a Holy God to let Him give birth to
his character in and through us - to grow us; to teach us; to see our
lives lived out in the fullness of all that He has created us to be; to
get us to lay down our rights so that His kingdom comes and His will is
done.
What
follows is the account of our supernatural adventure with the
Living Jesus - it is the testimony of the principles God was
painstakingly bent on showing us, so that His glory could be poured out
in this nation, any nation. This was a God-journey that would prove to
be more life-transforming than we could have conceived, more profoundly
wondrous than we would have imagined, more foundation-shaking than we
dared to desire. I write this to encourage my fellow sceptics and to
call out our complacent selves into the radical place where the Lord
wants His Church to dwell - to the streets of the nation where the
hungry, thirsty, broken and lost still are. For the sake of His glory,
for the sake of His name.
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