Be A Julie

 Last evening, one of the missionaries that RiverWalk Church helps support paid us a visit.  Julie is a missionary in Cambodia.  She is the director of the B.E.S.T. Center in Phnom Penh.  BEST is an acronym for Bible, English, Study and Training Center.  In the BEST Center environment, students attending a university in Phnom Penh live at the BEST Center and do additional study in the English language as well as the Christian faith.  Many of the students stay the entire four years they are at the University, and many become Christians during their stay.

The BEST Center experience is one of family and relationship.  Students do life together at the center, along with mentors and teachers.  It is truly a home away from home.

During Julie’s presentation last evening before the group that was gathered, I asked her how it was that she chose to do the work she does in Cambodia.  Her reply was, at least to me, an amazing insight into why missionaries do what they do.

I can’t quote her exactly, but this is the paraphrase version.  “I grew up in that part of the world, as my parents were missionaries there.  Some years ago, as a younger woman about to leave for the United States, one evening I was on a bridge over the Mekong River.  I looked out and saw people who had never heard of Jesus Christ.  I wondered how they would ever hear about him if I didn’t come back and tell them.”

This is Jay again.  Did you catch that?  Julie was so smitten by the urge to tell people about Jesus that she took it upon herself to be responsible for doing just that.  The result of that was the establishment of the BEST Center and a very successful program of study of the English language as well as teaching the students about God and his love for his people.  Many lives have been forever changed and many have stepped across the line of faith as a result.

And then, following the presentation, her comment about who was going to say something if she didn’t hit home with me.  I had to evaluate what I said and did in everyday life and living…whether I was even minimally concerned about those who had never heard and understood the good news about Jesus Christ, let alone whether or not I actually did anything about it.

You see, it’s easy to point to someone else and accuse them of not caring about the souls of others…not telling others about Jesus.  It’s much more difficult to point back to oneself and conduct an unbiased evaluation of one’s own work for the Kingdom of God.  That’s when the discomfort begins and the realization hits that one’s own life is lacking the zeal for the story of God and his love for his people.  That’s when one either stops and takes a good look at his life and way of living, or pushes it all into the background in order not to have to confront it.  That’s when one drops to her knees in prayer, or occupies her time with more busy work in the hope of forgetting the reality of those people in her circle of life who have never encountered the Living Jesus.

I don’t know what your faith persuasion is, or even if you have one.  I do know that as humans, we often try to overlook or ignore the truth about ourselves, if that truth is critical or points out shortcomings in our lives.  But if we are going to make any improvements in our own life situation, if we are going to do anything to make this world a better place for our having been here, if we are going to do anything that has lasting, eternal value, we have to see ourselves not as we’d like, but as God sees us.

Julie was smitten in her heart by the sight of those who were alienated from God.  She determined to do something about it and followed through.  We don’t have to be missionaries in Cambodia, or Africa, or Russia.  Not all of us are called or have the ability to do that.  But we all have the ability to do something.  Finding that something involves a truthful assessment of our lives, our abilities, and our life situation…then acting on what we’ve found out to be true.

Be a Julie.

 

Blessings,