PHILIPPIANS 1:20
Mission trips. Going on them is definitely a great experience. But every time when I come home, I ask the same question: “Why can’t I stand up for my faith at home just like on the trip?” After pondering this, I think I finally figured it out. My pride is so big that I don’t want to be laughed at. No one knows us far from home, so it doesn’t matter if we’re “Jesus Freaks,” but at school we are ridiculed, causing us to shut up. Paul, one of my favorite Biblical role models, stood tall and unashamedly proclaimed Jesus to everyone, everywhere. He didn’t “zip the lip” when ordered to stop. He took the beatings, imprisonment, and stoning, yet still didn’t give up speaking. We fight a battle within ourselves over whether or not we obey God’s command to “go and tell all the world” or not. He never said only some places or only when you’re away from home. If my friends and family die and go to hell, what am I going to say? That I didn’t want to be called a ‘Jesus Freak’ or ‘intolerant’? Jesus Freak? Who cares! It’s my responsibility to show and tell those in my life about Jesus. I hope, like Paul, I won’t be ashamed to be identified with Christ, but will have enough courage to speak out. Mission trips? I’m on one every time I jump out of bed in the morning!
Laura Reimer, 17, Nebraska Christian High School, Central City, NE
Father, I want to treat my entire life
as a mission to bring more people to You.
I do not want to be ashamed of You.