Rip holds my hand all the time, but this morning … it was different.
A different for this reason.
While running on a treadmill this past week, a young man struck up a conversation with me. As we talked, I asked him, “Do you and your wife have a church home?” He shared how they had visited a couple of churches in their home city, but had not yet found their place. I highly recommended a church for him, his wife and their 2 young sons to visit. We had such a great conversation about fitness and faith and I couldn’t help but thank the Lord for how He always goes before us and opens up paths for such purposeful conversation.
Then, …
Rip comes home and he has more names of folks who need prayer – people who shared with him their troubles, their hardships, and as y’all know Rip, he takes each prayer request to heart. It’s starting to be growing experiences for us … that God seems to continue bringing divine opportunities to talk about Him, to share about Jesus, to share our faith, to share encouragement and to pray for folks.
That is why this morning, as our pastor shared a powerful message on living on mission with God, we hung on his every word because Rip and I feel very strongly that each day, each day, is a NEW DAY ON MISSION WITH GOD! On mission at Kroger, Planet Fitness, TJMaxx, Chic-fila, gas stations, restaurants, sidewalks and street crossings. Why? Because they are all mission fields. The halls of our home and the driveways of our neighbors, the lines at the bank and the booths inside a crowded restaurant…all are mission fields for this reason –
Where God places people, He places purpose.
He is a missional God with a masterful way of orchestrating people for this reason –
His own heart.
And …
That’s why it happened.
That’s when it happened.
Rip reached over with his big strong hand and took me by mine and we walked down to the altar steps when our pastor gave the invitation to come and pray. To prayerfully surrender your life to be lived on mission with God. To be His missionary each day. I wasn’t surprised at Rip’s response to go pray because it’s how he lives his life. It’s his passion to share Jesus, to talk Jesus, to show Jesus.
When your husband takes you by the hand for this reason, it’s different. A good different. A different that has such a unique purpose. Because you know he is wanting you to join him, you know he is wanting the “US” of you to be on mission together.
You know what he is really saying in taking you by the hand is,
“Let’s go. We are here for this reason.
We now have a new 2016 motto – a new vision statement for our marriage. Without a vision the people perish and without us having to conjure one up, without us having to think deep and try to sum up a self-inspired direction for our marriage, the Lord God Himself delivered HIS MISSION motto for Rip and I through the spontaneous taking of my hand, in going down to kneel in prayer before our Lord. Jesus even said in His great commissioning statement before He transcended back to His Father’s side – “Go, therefore, and make disciples…” (Matt. 28:19). He clearly said we are to “Go.” In that one word, Go, we hear His own heart. We hear the mission of His own heart. It’s the reason we are here. To obey His commissioning and to embrace life on mission with God.
So, what will be our next painted and hand made project? It will be a sign. A wooden & very simple sign that we will hang in our home that we can see at the break of each new day. It simply will say:
“Let’s go. We are here for this reason.”
Will you consider making this your life mission motto? To serve God by serving others in living on mission with God.
