delirious? in the harvest and going deeper.

I just finished printing out 79 letters and envelopes to invite our surveyed people to come and talk. I know it could just be a step in our growth and not make a dent in reaching people, but I know the Lord has led us in this so, actually, I'm not sweating the details. I'm obeying and enjoying it.

It was a sort of déjà vu -ish experience, but joyful. As I was standing there getting my mojo going, working with the printer, signing the letters with my flubby red marker and feeding the envelopes into the printer, I got this feeling and this smile, remembering that for 16 years as a missionary, I did this nearly every month. I used to have a couple days each month where I wrote to our support team to encourage them and show them what the Lord was doing in this acre of His field. What a great feeling. I've forgotten how much I enjoyed that.

So here we are stepping out into the unknown, again as  missionaries, making this invitation for 4 nights to strangers. And to boot, Laura and I have invited our neighbors to an Oktoberfest this Saturday.

You have to laugh. There is a real weight of knowing that lost people are on the verge of judgment, and it isn't pretty. But then this morning I was going over Philippians and Paul tells them in two places to rejoice. The first time, at the beginning of ch. 3 he says rejoice but immediately warns them of  those who would steal the joy from the Christian life, making this a thing of rigid routine and adherence to self-righteousness. Paul kicks them out of that rut by reminding them that they worship God in Spirit…not a denomination or church, that they put no confidence in their ability to get everything right and be self-holy…but I left something out, and this is the greatest thing…we glory in Jesus Christ. Just say that 100 times: We glory in Jesus Christ. If that doesn't shake the crust off of you, what will? That's a reason to be amazingly joyful in spite of working a yard from the gates of hell.

Then in ch. 4 Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance, the Lord is near at hand." I don't think this apocalyptically speaking. I think it is like, "lo, I am with you always…" Do we believe this stuff? In the harvest, as we work with Him, I don't think we get any nearer to Him on earth. And, I think the Lord enjoys showing us His stuff and giving us joy. Would Paul have been the man he was if he had been an arm chair evangelist? Doesn't it seem that his striving and longing and joy in Philippians 3 was the result of a life lived in the harvest, seeing disciples made, who made disciples?

Anyway, I'm enjoying the joy and anticipation and looking forward to the next two weeks, and praying like a trooper in between; joyous with a smile (happy?), listening to "deeper" by delirious? and thankful that the Father, Jesus and the Spirit can make this terribly important mission such fun.