Photo by Photo by Megan Bell

I have always wanted to have the opportunity to start my testimony in front of a church with the first line of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. Since that might be slightly frowned upon, and I’m not supposed to cause a brother to stumble, I suppose I can settle for doing it in writing.

So, this is a story all about how my life got flip-turned upside down by Jesus.

God has called all Christians to obey Him, and spread His Gospel. Basically, once we are saved, Jesus calls the shots. This summer, He called me to join in His work by sending me on a mission trip to East Asia. Through this trip and others, He has shown me all the discrepancies between what I considered “missions” and what it actually looks like to follow Him missionally.

First of all, missions is not a trip. Yes, of course there are mission trips, but God has called every single believer to a life that is lived on mission. Matthew 28:18-20, known in christianese as the Great Commission –ah, get it, co-MISSION– says “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

This is Jesus sending us out into all the world: to our workplaces, to our schools, to our sports, to our governments and to the ends of the earth so that ALL may hear of His marvelous grace, mercy, justice and love.

Our team was sent to one of the poorest provinces in the area absolutely convinced most of the people we met would speak pretty good English. Nope. Because of the demographics in the area, and in spite of our language having a prominent spot in all levels of the country’s education system, very few people we met on the street spoke conversation English.

Well crap, Lord, what do we do now?

“Trust me, Child. I got this.” And what did He do? Father took all the obedience we could muster up –it’s not that much, trust me– and made something amazing out of it, shattering myth 2: How well I speak determines how many people come to know Jesus.

Our host missionary, Matt, was able to use us as an excuse to spread the Gospel in schools and other places that would have normally been not available to him and to get together with friends who needed to hear the Gospel. Throughout our time in East Asia, it was amazing to watch believers like Matt, Steven, a native brother who gave up his home for us to stay in, and others constantly turning normal conversations into Gospel conversations. This is another mission myth that Jesus helped me overcome this summer, and it applies not only to missions but many aspects of the Christian faith: “I can’t share the Gospel, I’m not ready.”

The truth is, we will never be ready. If we could manipulate or perfectly plan every Gospel conversation that we have so that we would never be uncomfortable or there would be no cost to us, then God would get none of the glory. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 says “But he [Jesus] said to me [Paul, who wrote this letter to the Corinthian church], ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Paul is saying here that when we are weak, then God’s power shows up. We cannot share the Gospel on our own, because it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that people come to Jesus.

The church in America is one of the most “getting-readiest” branches of the church in all of history. Here, a person comes to know Jesus, and it sometimes takes five to ten years to obey His calling to spread the Gospel. Some may never. But in East Asia where following Jesus costs much more than just twitter followers or popularity, I saw the church. Not a cathedral, not a multimillion dollar worship facility and definitely not a cowboy church. I saw what it looks like when believers spread the Gospel as soon as they are saved. I saw what the Bible means when it says “fellowship.” It’s amazing what God can do when we stop trying to get totally prepared, and take the leap: we jump out of the boat and walk in faith, letting Him take over and use our lives. You will never be ready to share the Gospel. Share it anyway: God’s in control, and He’s got this.