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The Great Commission in Your Own Hometown

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.'" --Matthew 28:18-20a (NIV)
 Whenever we hear this verse, we think one of two things: "Woah, that's a little much", or "Wow! That's awesome; let's do it!" If you belong to the first group, I am sorry to be the one to break it to you, friend, but as a Christian, that is our duty, straight from our Master's lips. If you belong to the second group, you are probably daydreaming right now of holding little children in Uganda, or building houses in Haiti. While these are certainly amazing experiences and fabulous chances to share the love of God, they do present a few problems to most people. First, those trips cost a good amount of money. Missions trips require anyone participating to raise funds for quite a while before the trip even appears as a possibility. Second, anyone who has been on one such trip can tell you: after arriving home, there are a few phases everyone goes through. Stage one is the "fire" stage. Everyone recognizes this part; it is where Samantha Smith comes home and cannot shut up about the amazing things she witnessed and in which she participated, her energy levels soaring through the roof, bustling with ideas, living a picture-perfect Christian life. Then comes the second stage: the burn out. After a while, the newness and memories of Sam's experience wear off, and she is right back in her own city with the people she has grown up with, struggling with the same issues that she left behind when she left for Uganda. All of a sudden, the fire has dissipated. The ideas have run out. She is right back where she stood originally, and—just like that—her work is over. It was a great run while it lasted, but now her life returns to "normal". While trips abroad can serve to be life-changing experiences for those who receive such overwhelming expressions of a love deeper than they have ever known, one has to wonder, "Is that it?"

 Fortunately, the answer to that is "no". Even if we serve in a different country once a year, what good is that if we walk right past the brokenhearted, the suffering, the ill, the outcasts in our own yard? There is so much more to The Great Commission than just showing love to children in faraway lands. God has a missions trip for you every day, and today's may be as simple as a drive to the market.

 I encourage you to take a moment to simply watch what is happening around you. Do you see that mother, attempting to wrangle her little ones while she struggles to find those five extra dollars to pay for her groceries? Do you notice that hungry homeless man, resting against a scrawny tree in the bits of shade it provides through the 100° heat? Do you turn your head to the businessman, ruffle-haired head in his hands, comprising the speech he will recite to his wife at home after the agonizing phone call from his employer? Do you stop just long enough to catch that the smile on the sixteen-year-old cheerleader's face is plastic to hide the brokeness she feels inside after her abusive parents' divorce the previous week? It is only when we truly understand the amount of people that need Jesus (right here, right now) that we begin to comprehend the call that Christ is shouting out to us in this very moment.

 Some of the most ground-breaking moments happen right on the street. Right in the store. Right at the halfway point between where we started and where our humanly plans would originally take us at that time. You see, God sees our time. In fact, He completely ignores it. He orchestrates His plan with such detail and precision that if we could glance at His schedule, we would not even be able to fathom what He has in store for us. But I can guarantee that if we could, we would submit to Him fully.

 Today, do not pass up the incredible opportunities God is setting out for you.
"Make the most of every opportunity." --Colossians 4:5b (NLT)
Do not waste your life living by your own agenda; submit to His will and His amazing orders. Say "yes" to the call He has placed upon your life, right where you are. Surely when we serve, even especially in our own hometown, we are fulfilling our Savior's mission for humankind.
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" --Isaiah 6:8
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