the journey continues

ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA:

A missionary is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who proselytizes. The word "mission" is derived from the Latin missionem (nom. missio), meaning "act of sending" or mitto, mittere, literally meaning "to send" or "to dispatch," the equivalent of the Greek-derived word "apostle" from apostolos, meaning "messenger". In Christian cultures the term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but it applies equally to any proselytizing creed or ideology. Buddhism launched 'the first large-scale missionary effort in the history of the world's religions'.[1]


This afternoon I seemed to have a series of interesting conversations mainly with folk that we Christians label "unbelievers". This of course is the huge number of people who do not profess to be a Christian for whatever reason. Any way, this one guy who I have known pretty much the entire time I have been here in Vancouver who claims to be an atheist asks me over coffee today, "so are you a missionary?" I respond with, "what is your definition of a missionary?" My friend tells me that a missionary is pretty much like the definition used above by wikipedia only he used more forceful language. I have thought about this issue a ton before, but today was different. I wasn't hurt by this or anything, but I truly desire to change the face of Christ to the world into a picture of true love and not a targeting assassin ready to strike at any moment.

Well folks, I have to be honest and say that if this is the true meaning of missionary then I am the most pathetic missionary that walked the earth. This is not my first priority here in Vancouver or anywhere that I go. I do desire and long for everyone to know the love of Jesus in their lives. However; my mission is to love my neighbor as myself and truly have an understanding of what that means. No one wants to be converted or be a target. If mere conversion is our goal we aren't putting Christ on display. To me conversion is a process of transformation. I am still being converted each day.

If I havn't lost too many supporters read on:

I am going to Honduras in April to share the good news of Jesus in my life and probably do a lot of gross things that you can only do on a guys trip. It's gonna be sweet. It's gonna take a lotta prayer and some moola. I would love to talk more with you about it.