Conviction hit yesterday as I was sorting through magazines to give away. A thin newsletter from Far Reaching Ministries fell out of the pile. I first learned of FRM when my friend Kerry pointed them out. Her friend Wes leads up this ministry, and it's the real deal. I flipped open the newsletter and read about men like Jaber Tutu in Sudan and his ongoing daily life on the edge of imminent danger as he pushes forward to share the Gospel in Sudan. Their aim is to reach the entire country and the entire continent with the Gospel. It literally means risking their lives every day...among enemy troops, diseases, and conditions that we in our plush houses cannot begin to imagine. Jaber Tutu says goodbye to his wife and baby girl when he leaves for duty, fully aware that he may not return. When asked how this life affects him, his response was: "...we know that we will never be comfortable in this life. And we are not afraid of he who can kill the body but of the One who can kill the soul."
My commitment to Christ falls trillions of miles short of what true sacrifice is. Am I willing to go anywhere He sends me? Am I willing to live in circumstances and surroundings that claw at my flesh? Just how far am I willing to say YES to whatever He wants from my life? Jaber Tutu says yes to a daily possibility of death. He says yes to unrelenting heat, flies by the hundreds, the daily threat of typhoid, and war situations that I cannot fathom. Simply put, he has counted the cost, and Jesus is worth more to him than any convenience, any comfort, and even his family. Conviction rolled in tightly yesterday, and I cannot get Jaber Tutu off my mind today...because his life stands as a testimony of just what it really means to pick up his cross daily and follow Jesus. He's the real thing. My faith stood pitiful in comparison.
Where are the leaders like these men in the Chaplain Corps? Where are the people who will step onto the battlegrounds against the enemy to push the Gospel forward? Where are the men who will lead from the front, stepping up to fight the enemy from attacking their families? Wes says in this video that when leaders step forward, people WILL follow.
Jaber Tutu and his fellow Chaplain Corps are true leaders. They are committed, no matter what the cost. They make the typical comfortable Christian's commitment look lame at best.
And what about ME...do I give Him my own unrestricted commitment? WHY NOT?
