The young lady was from India and now presiding at Leeham University. She sat across the table from my coworker and I, and told a story of her involvement in missions. A story that began with her going against the dreams and expectations of her loving father. His dream for her was one with prosperity being the first priority: one that consisted of her becoming an engineer or a doctor; someone who just made alot of money.
She spoke in front of the congregation of her church one Sunday, a message of her desire to go into missions and the desire to attend the Urbana Mission Conference. This young lady had her father in attendance, his first time in church, as she also chose to go against the culture and religion of her family.
She told of how throughout her message she would glance through the audience as any good public speaker would, but began to feel ashamed when her father refused to look at her. The humility in her voice as she spoke of the sudden feeling of failure she felt through the eyes of her father kind of got to me.
Throughout her message she spoke of her passion for missions and her desire to make a difference. And then it happened. Her message got to her father. This quiet, mild mannered man went beyond his normal behavior and stood up and spoke the words his daughter had longed to hear. He exclaimed that he was proud of his daughter. Then, throughout the congregation, gentleman after gentleman began to stand and exclaim that they would sponsor her, not only for her to attend Urbana Mission Conference, but for her ministerial calling.
This young lady's message also made an impact on her church, as they began to go outside of their box to be more evangelical in their community.
Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you lived in a different country, grew up in a different family, or followed a different culture?
Who would you be or who do you think you would turn out to be?
Would you be the same person you are today or somebody different?
And, knowing today who you are in Christ (if you follow Christ), could you go against your family's desires and expectations for you and follow Christ at all costs?
Something to ponder.
No comments:
Post a Comment