Friday, March 09, 2007

No Regrets



When I got down here to Lakeland, one thing I was hoping to keep quiet for a while was the fact that I am a musician, playing both the guitar and bass. It worked for a while. But I accidentally let it slip one evening as I was talking with the Youth Pastor from our church. I'm now playing the bass for the youth/young adult praise band. I even was asked to fill in for the absent regular bass man in the main sanctuary, in front of nearly a thousand!

But, God so cool. Since I've been playing, I have been asked to go to the Bahamas for a big youth convention called Caribfest, as part of the music team, playing the bass guitar. I have never been on a missions trip, and I am so excited about it!

I have to admit, it will be weird being away from my wife and kids, even if only for a few days. I'll be in another country. Historically, these kinds of opportunities don't come my way. But this one has, and I feel that God is in it.

I know not everyone feels the same way. I talked with my dad tonight, and I was telling him about the opportunity to go. He wasn't too thrilled. Not that he thinks anything bad will happen. His response to going to there on a missions trip was, "Why not just go help rebuild a Katrina house in New Orleans if that is the kind of thing you into?", or something like that. To me, that is the kind of attitude that keeps people securely on the ground next to the mountain and viewing it from there, rather than strapping the climbing gear on and tackling the challenge. I'm not content to just go through life ignoring the God-given opportunities and "surviving". I don't want to survive, I want to thrive!

This gave me a little poke tonight that reminded me that a God-call is a sending call. God doesn't call us to just hold down the fort till Jesus comes back, but to be soldiers of Christ that advance on the powers of hell with the Gospel of Christ, seeing the captive sinner freed. He calls us to be faith-walkers. He calls us to be holy risk-takers, like Jonathan, Saul's son who defeated the Philistines with simply his armor-bearer at his side. His only thought? "Perhaps God will move!"

I am reminded of something Pastor Mark Batterson of NCC in Washington DC said: at the end of our lives, it won't be the things we did, but wish we hadn't done that we'll regret. It will be the things we felt called to do, but never did, that will haunt us. I don't want to get to the end of my life when it's too late and have any "what if's". This trip is one of those things that I know I would regret not doing till I die should I stay home for those few days.

So, don't let anything stop you from that thing you feel God is calling you to do. Let loose, and do it with all your heart, mind and soul!

God bless!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Itch,

It is great to hear that things are looking up for you and the family I will tell you again I had no doubts when God wants to move you he does and it looks like all doors and windows are open for you and you have walked threw. It took you awhile to accept this calling to move but hey God is so GREAT and I can tell you that is it cold here and you are sitting in the sun. Give me love and prayers to all and send some sun and sand to your northern friends......Blessings SBG

Henry Haney said...

Hey Itch,

I'm glad things are going well with you and the family. Please let us know how things go on the mission trip. Congratulations on being chosen to attend and minister. And I'm glad to hear you didn't keep the secret of your musicianship for very long!

Your pal,
Henry

Darrell said...

Great report man! When are you going to the Bahamas? You will fall in love with the people there. They are just wonderful folks. Enjoy yourself, and I pray that there is a harvest for the seeds you guys plant.

Pastor Jeff said...

Thanks, all. Great to hear from you. Get this, last week I entered a drawing for a cruise to the Bahamas at a local Chinese joint. Today, when I got home, I checked our voice mail, and I had a message from an area travel agency saying I won the trip! 4 days and 3 nights. I have to call them tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

In them meantime, I can't wait for the missions trip.

Rich Tatum said...

Hi Jeff,

This is Rich Tatum, the BlogRodent. I'm currently updating my PneumaBlogs list (a list of select Pentecostal, Charismatic, A/G, CoG, and Foursquare bloggers) and I was hoping to get contact information from you. (You're on my list!)

See: tatumweb.com/blog/pneumablogs/

The list looks a little raw right now because I'm still recovering from moving to a new server.

Would you mind shooting me an email? Let me know if you don't want to be included, and I'll take you off. Otherwise, just holler at me, and I'll have current contact information for you in case I need to update my listing or verify information.

Regards,

Rich
BlogRodent

(PS: Sorry for the drive-by comment, but I couldn't find contact information for you. Please feel free to delete this comment.)