Star Trek?

               A few weeks ago I realized that I was a part of something. It is happening so gradually we don’t really realize it. During work I don’t always have work to do so I will read my Bible, play with my budget, look at facebook, and read blogs. I enjoy the blogs. There are two or three kinds of blogs that I like. One is about decorating one’s home. Now, I have no sense of style or what colors go together, but they are fun to read nonetheless and I know that most of what they do looks good. The other kind I like to read are about the Christian life, with devo’s and the popular “this is what Christian marriage/dating is like/should be” posts. And finally, I also like to read the blogs of my friends so that I can (be a creeper?) and keep up to date on their lives.

What I realized the other day is that I am part of the next generation of missionaries. It is really fun to read the blogs of all these friends from high school, plus a few from college. And not only are they the next generation of missionaries, but many are second (or third!) generation missionaries! I would like to highlight a few here.

From high school:

• ·        Ted and Karen: I went to school with Ted, and Karen grew up as an MK in South America, both are at least 2^nd generation missionaries. Ted and Karen are actually my co-workers. They are in their third year of teaching here at DA and their students love them. They are also both involved in coaching and they lend humor and friendship to our community. Their blog always offer a unique perspective about life here and are often thought provoking.
• ·        Ethan and Valerie: Ethan is another person I went to school with and is also at least a second generation missionary. Ethan and Valerie live north of Dakar and arrived in September. So far they have been doing intensive language training and are now starting to get more into their church planting work. I have only briefly seen Ethan since they got here, but I enjoy reading their blog and seeing how they are serving God and how I can pray for them.
• ·        Sabrina: Sabrina is serving in India for the next few years and is a second generation missionary. She has a burning passion to make God known which can be clearly seen through her blog posts.
• ·        Sadie: Sadie is in Germany, serving as an RA at a missionary school. This is something she has dreamed of doing since she was in the dorm here at DA. She is a second generation missionary and her love for the girls in the dorm and desire to glorify God shines clearly through her blog posts.
• ·        Jacob and Kacey: Jacob and Kacey are a young couple working in the Congo area. They were on a short missions trip to Guinea when they heard God call them. Their heart for God and excitement for their work is clearly evident in their blog posts.
• ·        Dana: (honestly, I feel weird using a pseudonym here because this is my older sister) Dana is not currently on the field but I wanted to mention her. Dana was here at DA for 5 and a half years before she felt the need to head back to the States, for a time at least. She has gotten settled in her new life, teaching at another Christian school, but she makes it clear on her blog posts that she knows God wants her overseas somewhere eventually again.
• ·        Dale: Dale is a actually a non-blog person – that I am aware of – but he is a another one of the new generation, and is a 3^rd generation missionary. He currently serves in Mali, but was recently in Guinea. Dale, a third generation missionary, is currently serving in Mali but has been following God around West Africa wherever God leads him. He doesn’t have a blog that I know of, but I see posts of his work on facebook from time to time.

Then there are a few friends from college who are both first generation missionaries:

• ·        Jody: Jody just finished a year in Cambodia working with women in unfortunate circumstances. Her blog posts were always interesting and touching.
• ·        Jade: Jade is working as an elementary teacher at an MK school in Honduras. She initially went for only one year, but now she has extended it at least another year. I enjoy reading her blog and seeing her pictures, learning about life in Central America.

As the writer of Hebrews in chapter 11 “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about [Damion and Marie, or Magnus and Mable, or two of Mable’s sisters].” I also have friends working overseas, but I don’t know in what capacity. And then there are those of this next generation who are first generation missionaries.

               I look at the high schoolers we have right now and wonder what they’ll be doing in the next 5-8 years. The previous generation will be retiring in the next 10-15 years, will anyone be here to take their place? So far, yes. Some of these people – including myself – I had no idea would become missionaries. But God knew.

               We are the children in Philippians 2, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become pure and blameless children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” No, we are not pure, faultless, or blameless – but we are becoming so. As Paul says in Philippians 3 – “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on”. I don’t want to be part of the crooked and depraved generation, do you? I want to be set apart from them.

               Thank you, previous generation of missionaries, for the example you have set for us. May we follow the way you showed us – from wherever we are: in a foreign country or in our passport country – which for many of us in the real foreign country.

P.S. If you have a blog and don’t think you were mentioned here, let me know so I can start reading it and praying for you.

*Not real names, and I apologize if you are reading this and realize I am talking about you and don’t like the names I have given you! But since I am writing about you without your permission, I wanted to protect your identity.