Into the Mud
Truth is holy, and truth-telling a noble and useful profession; that the reality around us is created and worth celebrating; that men and women are radically imperfect and radically valuable.
The curtains in my bedroom turn from grey to sunrise peach. Dogs bark, calves bleat for food, and someone is hammering. There’s a smell of smoke from a wood fire and the hum of water boiling for my husband’s tea. A chill in the air draws me back under the covers. The woodstove belongs to our neighbors on the left. They are the laborers who clean our landlord’s home, drive his tractor, dig postholes, and shovel calf manure. They use sticks to beat the grass for snakes as they walk and eat cornmeal porridge with shebo vegetable sauce. They speak Zulu, and while “African” might seem a more politically correct word, in South Africa they generally go by the simple term “black.”
The Missionary Call
“NOW THAT GOD HAS called you to missions…” Wait a minute! What exactly does “the missionary call” mean? The vast majority of articles and books that address the missionary call begin with an assumption that you know you have received a call and seek to help you take the next step. Many sermons, mission books, and youth group challenges use the term frequently, but without explaining it. To make matters worse, they all seem to have widely differing understandings of what “the call” actually is. The Bible speaks of a call to salvation, calls to serve the Lord and calls to some specific service. The Bible also gives examples of specific guidance in understanding where and when people are to express their calling, but many confuse this guidance with the call itself.
How then should we understand the missionary call?
