Since I've gotten home from Russia, I've been wondering what God had in store for me next. Well, God showed me a few weeks ago when I was offered an internship at my church for the summer. I definitely was not expecting this. But I am so excited that God has given me this opportunity. I get to work along side 3 other interns, the missions pastor, and our urban ministry. Much of what we do includes working in some of the most impoverished areas of the city.
The first morning we began by meeting with one of the guys on the urban ministry team. We went through the book of Jonah. It's a book I've read many times, and I've been hearing the story since I was young. Today was different though. Points were brought up that had never even crossed my mind.
"Jonah as willing to die for a city to be destroyed. Jesus was willing to die so that cities of the world could have life."
The city of Ninevah wasn't one that people were rushing to move into. It was an evil city. Because of this, Jonah went the opposite way. When the storm came, he eventually cast himself overboard, and was willing to die so he wouldn't have to go to Ninevah. God had a different plan though, and Jonah finally went. Upon hearing Jonah's message, they turned their lives around, and God showed his grace to the people and saved them. Even then, Jonah was not happy.
Throughout the discussion that morning, I began to see that I have been much like Jonah during my college years. The city I live in isn't necessarily the safest one I've lived in. I would do a block party here and there at some of the inner city apartment complexes, but never really engaged the people. When it came to the point where I had to choose my university, I didn't even consider one in the city of Memphis. I just wanted to get away. Middle TN was my destination. I lived there when I was younger, and I always wanted to go back. College was my chance. I know for a fact that that is where God wanted me to go to school, but I still ran away from my home town. Every summer I tried to get a job somewhere, anywhere, as long as it was outside of Memphis. And every summer, God said 'No, you will stay in Memphis.'
This summer I am actually doing something. I don't want to continue to run from my city. I want to embrace it, to love it. And not just to embrace and love the city- I want to embrace and love the people. That is what I am doing. I never thought I would step foot in some of the places we work, and now I go to them several times a week. I finally realized that it was time to stop running. I want to glorify God with my life. I don't want to be like Jonah and run. I want to be like Jesus.
I want to be like my Jesus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg1bx3oA0eU&feature=related
