Stint Briefing

Ha!  I wish all of our road trips were this happy!

We said goodbye to our kids once again, and have headed to Chicago for Stint briefing.  This is a conference in which 400 people from around the country gather for one week to get a crash course in how to lead/love/learn/share well for their respective trips.

400 people.  From all over the country.  Gathering for one purpose, to be better trained and equipped to take the gospel all over the globe for the next year.  It hit me this morning how rare this is.  Surely this sort of thing must have been something the Apostle Paul would have just loved to be a part of.  We are sitting in a room of people with some that are giving up 6 figure incomes, some taking their small children, others knowing virtually no-one on their teams, and all taking huge steps of faith to see God honored in the world.  This is a unique conference, and a unique group of men and women.

Throughout the history of the church this sort of thing is virtually brand new - only in the last 100 years or so, but of this magnitude significantly more recently.  Some of these people cannot even openly speak about the locations they are going because the country is that unsafe, or closed.  We speak in code.  This is unreal.  For those of us in Christian circles this may become old-hat, or something we take for granted, but this is nothing short of miraculous.  This group of young men and women, young mothers and fathers, newlyweds some, and still students others--this group is giving a year of their lives to tramp all across the globe with little desire other than to bring others before the throne of the king.  Forsaking riches, some forsaking health, all forsaking the friends and family and comforts of home.

Jesus is love, and grace, and mercy.  He has redeemed us by the blood of His Son.  He has set up a kingdom, and invited us into his family to play a role in his redemption of the world.  He loves us deeply and radically.  We are free indeed.  Because of Him we have been granted new lives.  We have been bought from the slave market, brought through the sea, and into the promised land.  We walk with the creator of the universe and he finds a home in us.

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe this is the most normal room I've ever been in?