My wife and I had dreamed of being overseas missionaries. In fact, that was one of the things that attracted us to each other when we first met in college at Southern Adventist University. We dreamed of serving God and dedicating our lives to His cause. We dreamed of the romantic call to service, taking the three angels’ messages to unreached people groups. But now this? An offer to be a volunteer? How is this possible? I had prepared myself for a life calling, obtaining my master’s degree as a family nurse practitioner, studying, and working for lifetime service. My wife had obtained two degrees: nursing and dental hygiene. We were ready to be medical missionaries, sharing God’s love and serving people. And now we had the offer to serve as volunteers? Volunteers? Really?
The possibility was relatively easy for me to dismiss. I mean, as husband and provider of the home, I needed a guaranteed income to take care of my wife and firstborn son. I was sure that God would not call me to make such an “unwise” sacrifice such as to go serve Him as a volunteer. But my wife was not so quick to say no. She encouraged me that we should take some time and pray about it. Pray about it we would, but I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
Personal sacrifice. Personal commitment to the advancement of God’s cause.
Strange Old Truths
As we prayed and read, God began to bring many things to our minds. In our daily Bible reading we read the first commission in Matthew 10 where Jesus sent out the apostles on their first assignment. Something strange stood out in our minds: “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food” (Matt. 10:9, 10). We had read this chapter many times before, but suddenly my mind stopped and fixed on these verses. Why would Jesus send them out with nothing? I mean, today we prepare and plan everything we do with great detail. We take time to think of everything we might need before we set out on a journey. This is responsible. To do less may be irresponsible. But here I found that Jesus was sending them out without the basic needs for their mission. And to remove any doubt of what the outcome of their journey was, Luke records a short interaction that took place between Jesus and His disciples at the Last Supper together. As they are dining and Jesus is taking time to address them for one of the last times, He asks them a question: “ ‘When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?’ So they said, ‘Nothing’ ” (Luke 22:35).
There it was. Jesus had sent His disciples out on a mission assignment and taught them that He Himself was sufficient to take care of their needs. Jesus wanted to teach them, and us today, that a call to serve Him also allows us to trust in Him to provide for our basic needs. So countercultural to our thinking today. You mean I need to trust that God will provide for me?
My struggle with God continued. Yes, God, I thought, I know You took care of the apostles in Bible times. But is that really how You work today? Would You ask me to make such a sacrifice as to be a volunteer?
God has mysterious ways of working. And if we fill our minds with His Word and heavenly things, He will use those to speak to our hearts at the right time. God began doing just that in my mind. As a child my mother had read stories of the great missionary pioneers to us. Growing up, I was inspired and intrigued by men and women who sacrificed everything to take the gospel to foreign and hard-to-reach lands. I read of the missionaries who trekked across jungles for months on end, sleeping in tents, fighting off disease and dangers. I read of missionaries who lived on boats and traveled sometimes months on end into the jungle, with no contact with the outside world, risking all to find people to take the knowledge of the love of God to. I read stories of missionaries who took in orphans to feed and house without having even enough money to buy their food, but miraculously God provided for them each time. And then I remembered even more. Reading books and being inspired reminded me of the beginning of the publishing work itself. Ellen White had a vision in 1848 after which she told her husband, James, that God wanted them to print a little paper to send out across the world. She saw that this paper would begin as something small, but would eventually shine across the world. But this first paper was no easy assignment. James sacrificed his own time and money to write, publish, and mail it. He even had to travel eight miles just to take the first papers to the post office and mail each one individually. Personal sacrifice. Personal commitment to the advancement of God’s cause.
Calling Confirmed
God was calling my wife and me to do the same—sacrifice for His cause. We spoke with God and agreed. We were willing to move to the Brazilian jungles of South America and work with the church in a boat ministry, using medical evangelism to share Jesus’ love. We were willing to do this . . . even as volunteers. My wife and I decided we were willing to go. But I still needed a bit more confirmation from God.
So to help you understand more fully and put things into perspective, I was working full-time in emergency medicine as a nurse practitioner. My wife was working as a dental hygienist. And we had a 1-year-old son. How do we walk away from two good-paying jobs to be volunteers? How do I take care of my son as a volunteer? So I needed God to confirm a bit more. I remembered Gideon’s talks with God asking for confirmation. I also spoke with God, reminding Him that I was willing, but for such a sacrifice, I really wanted a bit more confirmation. How could I be sure that He was calling us to go and be volunteers?
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
God is just as active today as He was in the past. Shortly after our prayer of submission to God and request for a bit more confirmation, it happened. We received a phone call from a man on the other side of the country asking us about our call to missions. He had heard through a mutual friend that we were praying about moving to Brazil to serve the church in the jungle. He was intrigued to hear more about this boat ministry. After we shared about the work, he told us his story. He shared that he and his wife had taken an early retirement and built a boat, an ocean yacht. They comfortably outfitted it and prepared to live their lives boating from country to country, living a life of ease and pleasure together. The dream did come true. They traveled through the Panama Canal, around the Caribbean, and around the coast of the Americas. But their dream ended abruptly when his wife was diagnosed with cancer and died faster than they could process what was happening. After dealing with the loss of his wife, he was convinced that he should use his earthly possessions for the cause of God. He told me that he had tried to sell his yacht and then asked me if I was interested at all in the boat.
I have learned to measure sacrifice not in what we don’t have, but in what others may have for all eternity.
I was a bit hesitant to let him know that our call to Brazil was to be volunteers. I was hesitant to tell him that we were still seeking clarity from God if this was indeed what we were to do. But I went ahead and let him know that we didn’t have money to purchase a fully outfitted ocean yacht. He then said, “I didn’t ask you if you wanted to purchase the boat. I asked you if you were interested in the boat.” That phone call ended in the man telling us that God had laid it on his heart to donate the boat to us to take to the Amazon and use in God’s service.
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). God still works in ways that exceed our wildest expectations.
God laid on my wife’s and my heart that He was calling us to a life of total commitment to His cause. He showed us that He was leading—that He was guiding. He reminded us that He can still take care of our needs today, just as He took care of the disciples’ needs.
The True Measure
My wife and I served for 13 years in the jungles of Brazil. For the first nine years we were volunteers. Our second son was born in Manaus, as we served as volunteers. For nine years we witnessed firsthand what the disciples had said to Jesus in the upper room—we, like them, lacked nothing.
I remember visiting a friend’s house in south Brazil after having served as a volunteer for about seven years. As I walked up to his house, I remember seeing his expensive car sitting in front of his two-story house. I remember looking around and suddenly realizing that while he had his life comfortably made, I owned almost nothing personally. I lived in a tiny wooden house on the side of the river and had almost nothing. I did some quick math and realized that had I continued to work in the ER during those seven years, I would have made nearly $1 million. And yet here I was, a volunteer, with almost nothing to my name.
But before I could really feel sorry for myself, God spoke to me and reminded me of all the things He had accomplished during those years. He reminded me of the school we had in the jungle for children, giving them an opportunity to study and learn of God. He reminded me of the multiple boats that were now serving in unentered areas of the jungle. He reminded me of the many churches that now housed small groups worshipping the true God where before there had been no one that knew truth. He reminded me that our small sacrifice today can produce an eternity of joy for someone else.
I have learned to measure sacrifice not in what we don’t have, but in what others may have for all eternity. May Jesus empower each of us to serve. To sacrifice. To stay committed. And to see fruit produced for eternity. Is God calling you today to serve? Remember that mission does not mean leaving your country; it means full commitment to God and His mission! Use what God has placed in your hand so that people around you can know Jesus.