Maggie Josiah is a missionary from our church and is serving in Uganda. She is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. If you read her story, you'll understand why.
A quote by Rabbi Hillel seemed an appropriate title for my last year in Uganda. “I walk, I fall down, I get up; meanwhile I keep dancing.”
I stepped into the Kingdom of God, hesitantly, with a martini in one hand and a CS Lewis book in the other asking me, “What will you do with this man called Jesus?” Lewis explained that Jesus left no room to be merely considered a great teacher – He is either everything he said he is – the Son of God, the only way to the Father or he was an insane liar.
A journey began the moment I stepped out of my doubts and into this incredible truth, only to be met by more questions, ones that still challenge me 20 years later. What if everything Jesus said was true? What if the Kingdom if God is here on earth right now? What if sacrifice and suffering are the gateway into joy and I must loose my life in order to find it? What if there is truly a war of cosmic spiritual consequences being fought out between the forces of good and evil and though God has already won, He is calling his children to join the battle? What if the Good News really is good news; that broken hearts can be mended, that crippled lives can learn to walk without shame, that eyes blinded by the lies of the enemy can learn to see the truth or that prisoners held captive by fear can be set free? What if God truly has a plan for my life that is critical in the lives of others? What if the mercy Jesus has for me spills over onto the lives of others around me?
Perhaps a better title for this talk comes from a scene in Braveheart where in a dream, the dead father of William Wallace looks at his son and says, “Your heart is free – have the courage to live it”.
I believe that every Christian is called to ‘Mission’. I believe that the abundant life Jesus speaks of is that of finding our place in the world where we will join in community to bring God the greatest glory. Mission is not a task, a duty or an event but an invitation for others to glimpse Jesus living among them. Tim Dearborn writes that, “to engage in mission is to participate in the King’s business. God chooses to let us share in His work by being living signs of the kingdom, to provide visual aids and to live out previews of ‘coming attractions’ revealing what this Kingdom will look like.” Every Christian then is called to Mission is place of God’s choosing – to live out your best life possible, whether that be within your family, church, neighborhood, business or the remote bush of Africa.
I am one of the most unlikely people to move to Africa as a field missionary. I am a very fearful person and extremely shy. As a child I was severely abused. My father sexually abused me, my mother sexually abused me. My first memories are of being beaten by my mom, Child pornography and prostitution were forced upon me by my parents from my earliest memories lasting well into my 20’s. I still feel quite broken, still very shattered by my past. I am easily overwhelmed. But – What will you do with this man called Jesus? There was nothing sweet or neutral in that question. For me it spoke of stepping out onto an unknown path that would either destroy me or lead to radical change and transformation.
Mark Buchanan in “Your God is too Safe” teaches that “sanctification is the journey into a new land: learning to dwell gladly in the Father’s house … it is a way of life that’s hard to learn. It’s dangerous, difficult terrain… It calls to constant dying…. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, this God who claims us so completely, uncompromisingly… this God who brooks no rivals and orders us to tear them down with our own hands. This God calls us out of secluded winepresses and into open battlefields…. who names Himself, who will not grant you every little wish just because it is you wishing it, who will not conform to your image but who has made you in His and is now forming in you sometimes by hammer blows, grappling, hip wrenching, into the image of Christ? The one who says, “You must follow Me. Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.”
For me, it has been a long journey of tears. It has required stepping into my worst fears and uncertainty; of dying to self over and over and over again. Drawing close to Jesus and allowing him to heal my heart has not led me to the image of the victorious and strong Christian I had hope to become – instead I have joined the ranks of the ‘ wounded soldier in love’s service’. I feel ill-equipped for the task God has called me to as God continues to call me to even greater responsibility and transformation. So, much like little Much-Afraid in Hind’s Feet in High Places, I have grasped the hand of Sorrow and Suffering as I journey to the high places with my Sheppard where I have discovered the key to radical transformation – that my God is madly, passionately, wildly in love with me and that all will be well.
Most of us who are used in pornography don’t escape. Most of us die young, drug overdose, AIDS, suicide. I was given a second chance, my heart was set free. Did I have the courage to live it? I desperately wanted my past to have meaning. 16 years ago I determined that no matter how frightened I was I wanted my own story to end well and answered the call to be a soldier in the King’s army. For nearly 10 years, my marching orders were that of training and discipline, a dry, empty desert experience of learning to live by faith and not by sight, learning to love and be loved in a community of grace. I held onto the thought that if Jesus is who he says he is, he should make a radical difference in my life. The 12 disciples were common simple men who through their relationship with Jesus turned the entire world upside down. Why couldn’t he do the same in my life and in the lives of those I was called to live among?
In Galatians 5:1 Paul states that “it is for freedom Christ has set us free”. Jesus first had to free me from my self-imposed prison of fear. But the freedom he granted me was not just to give me life but to teach others to step into their own fears and be set free. In spite of all my fears, I boarded a plane to Uganda for my first mission trip in 2002. For the next three years, I would return to Uganda annually on a short term mission. As a self-supported missionary I was able to move over full time last April. My staff love that I now live in Uganda and visit America!
I have based my mission on a quote I came across spoken by an old woman, an aborigine in Australia: “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us struggle together.” This last year has been an incredible experience – much harder than I had ever imagined but with much greater reward. The pain of my past remains with me and I continue to walk out this journey in my weaknesses. Jesus comforts me with the knowledge that after his resurrection he still carried his scars for others to touch. At our vocational school, we teach far more than just skills but help our student and staff to dream and hope and trust in a God who passionately loves them. Together we are learning that we are not defined by our past circumstances; that with God’s favor and much hard work each of us can experience the abundant life, live fully alive and become all that God planned us to be.
We pray for the passion and faith to live our lives as Floyd Mc Clung describes in Apostolic Passion – “If you have apostolic passion, you are one of the most dangerous people on the planet. The world no longer rules your heart. You are no longer seduced by getting and gaining but devoted to spreading and proclaiming the glory of God in the nations. You live as a pilgrim, unattached to the cares of this world. You are not afraid of loss. You even dare to believe you may be given the privilege of dying to spread His fame on the earth. The Father’s passions have become your passions. You find your satisfaction and significance in Him. You believe He is with you always, the end of life itself. You are sold out to God and you live for the Lamb. Satan fears you and the angels applaud you. Your reward is the look of pure delight you anticipate seeing in His eyes when you lay at His feet.’
I stepped into the Kingdom of God, hesitantly, with a martini in one hand and a CS Lewis book in the other asking me, “What will you do with this man called Jesus?” Lewis explained that Jesus left no room to be merely considered a great teacher – He is either everything he said he is – the Son of God, the only way to the Father or he was an insane liar.
A journey began the moment I stepped out of my doubts and into this incredible truth, only to be met by more questions, ones that still challenge me 20 years later. What if everything Jesus said was true? What if the Kingdom if God is here on earth right now? What if sacrifice and suffering are the gateway into joy and I must loose my life in order to find it? What if there is truly a war of cosmic spiritual consequences being fought out between the forces of good and evil and though God has already won, He is calling his children to join the battle? What if the Good News really is good news; that broken hearts can be mended, that crippled lives can learn to walk without shame, that eyes blinded by the lies of the enemy can learn to see the truth or that prisoners held captive by fear can be set free? What if God truly has a plan for my life that is critical in the lives of others? What if the mercy Jesus has for me spills over onto the lives of others around me?
Perhaps a better title for this talk comes from a scene in Braveheart where in a dream, the dead father of William Wallace looks at his son and says, “Your heart is free – have the courage to live it”.
I believe that every Christian is called to ‘Mission’. I believe that the abundant life Jesus speaks of is that of finding our place in the world where we will join in community to bring God the greatest glory. Mission is not a task, a duty or an event but an invitation for others to glimpse Jesus living among them. Tim Dearborn writes that, “to engage in mission is to participate in the King’s business. God chooses to let us share in His work by being living signs of the kingdom, to provide visual aids and to live out previews of ‘coming attractions’ revealing what this Kingdom will look like.” Every Christian then is called to Mission is place of God’s choosing – to live out your best life possible, whether that be within your family, church, neighborhood, business or the remote bush of Africa.
I am one of the most unlikely people to move to Africa as a field missionary. I am a very fearful person and extremely shy. As a child I was severely abused. My father sexually abused me, my mother sexually abused me. My first memories are of being beaten by my mom, Child pornography and prostitution were forced upon me by my parents from my earliest memories lasting well into my 20’s. I still feel quite broken, still very shattered by my past. I am easily overwhelmed. But – What will you do with this man called Jesus? There was nothing sweet or neutral in that question. For me it spoke of stepping out onto an unknown path that would either destroy me or lead to radical change and transformation.
Mark Buchanan in “Your God is too Safe” teaches that “sanctification is the journey into a new land: learning to dwell gladly in the Father’s house … it is a way of life that’s hard to learn. It’s dangerous, difficult terrain… It calls to constant dying…. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, this God who claims us so completely, uncompromisingly… this God who brooks no rivals and orders us to tear them down with our own hands. This God calls us out of secluded winepresses and into open battlefields…. who names Himself, who will not grant you every little wish just because it is you wishing it, who will not conform to your image but who has made you in His and is now forming in you sometimes by hammer blows, grappling, hip wrenching, into the image of Christ? The one who says, “You must follow Me. Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.”
For me, it has been a long journey of tears. It has required stepping into my worst fears and uncertainty; of dying to self over and over and over again. Drawing close to Jesus and allowing him to heal my heart has not led me to the image of the victorious and strong Christian I had hope to become – instead I have joined the ranks of the ‘ wounded soldier in love’s service’. I feel ill-equipped for the task God has called me to as God continues to call me to even greater responsibility and transformation. So, much like little Much-Afraid in Hind’s Feet in High Places, I have grasped the hand of Sorrow and Suffering as I journey to the high places with my Sheppard where I have discovered the key to radical transformation – that my God is madly, passionately, wildly in love with me and that all will be well.
Most of us who are used in pornography don’t escape. Most of us die young, drug overdose, AIDS, suicide. I was given a second chance, my heart was set free. Did I have the courage to live it? I desperately wanted my past to have meaning. 16 years ago I determined that no matter how frightened I was I wanted my own story to end well and answered the call to be a soldier in the King’s army. For nearly 10 years, my marching orders were that of training and discipline, a dry, empty desert experience of learning to live by faith and not by sight, learning to love and be loved in a community of grace. I held onto the thought that if Jesus is who he says he is, he should make a radical difference in my life. The 12 disciples were common simple men who through their relationship with Jesus turned the entire world upside down. Why couldn’t he do the same in my life and in the lives of those I was called to live among?
In Galatians 5:1 Paul states that “it is for freedom Christ has set us free”. Jesus first had to free me from my self-imposed prison of fear. But the freedom he granted me was not just to give me life but to teach others to step into their own fears and be set free. In spite of all my fears, I boarded a plane to Uganda for my first mission trip in 2002. For the next three years, I would return to Uganda annually on a short term mission. As a self-supported missionary I was able to move over full time last April. My staff love that I now live in Uganda and visit America!
I have based my mission on a quote I came across spoken by an old woman, an aborigine in Australia: “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us struggle together.” This last year has been an incredible experience – much harder than I had ever imagined but with much greater reward. The pain of my past remains with me and I continue to walk out this journey in my weaknesses. Jesus comforts me with the knowledge that after his resurrection he still carried his scars for others to touch. At our vocational school, we teach far more than just skills but help our student and staff to dream and hope and trust in a God who passionately loves them. Together we are learning that we are not defined by our past circumstances; that with God’s favor and much hard work each of us can experience the abundant life, live fully alive and become all that God planned us to be.
We pray for the passion and faith to live our lives as Floyd Mc Clung describes in Apostolic Passion – “If you have apostolic passion, you are one of the most dangerous people on the planet. The world no longer rules your heart. You are no longer seduced by getting and gaining but devoted to spreading and proclaiming the glory of God in the nations. You live as a pilgrim, unattached to the cares of this world. You are not afraid of loss. You even dare to believe you may be given the privilege of dying to spread His fame on the earth. The Father’s passions have become your passions. You find your satisfaction and significance in Him. You believe He is with you always, the end of life itself. You are sold out to God and you live for the Lamb. Satan fears you and the angels applaud you. Your reward is the look of pure delight you anticipate seeing in His eyes when you lay at His feet.’
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