a prayer for the AAEO

this week not only brings us the fantastic weather we've been waiting weeks for, but also concludes with the grandest of all celebrations- Easter.

we began Holy Week with one of my favorite church activities- a joint service with two other local church bodies.  having worked the 3 nights previous, i was delirious with exhaustion by the time i got home, but it was time well spent, singing and praising God with so many others. 

just before the joint service, though, we had a brief time of worship at our own church which included both Scripture reading and a time of offering.

this is what got me.

well, it had already gotten me, and continued to "get" me throughout all the worshiping for the rest of the day.

in the weeks leading up to Easter, our church annually collects money for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO), which goes to support missionaries all over America with the North American Missions Board (NAMB). 

this week, i was finally "with it" enough to throw in my donation- i even put it in the correct yellow envelope :)  but i looked at that check and just about broke down. 

i've gone on 4 short-term mission trips now, and each time have developed skills, stretched myself physically, emotionally and spiritually, and seen just a bit more of God and what He is doing worldwide.  

and each time i wish it was easier to share this all-important message with those in America. those in India and Brazil are inspired, impressed that rich white people would leave their air conditioning and hamburgers to come tell other nations about Jesus and His love for them.  they know that whatever we're saying has got to be important if we would go to so much effort to let them know. 

then i come back.

i come back to a nation full of individuals who do not have to care. a country with enough religions and faiths and labels that you can mix-and-match them, design your own religion, pick and choose a church or denomination or moral system and lose nothing. 

except their souls.

our church is supporting one couple that has answered God's call to Utah, to take the Gospel to a part of this country that has distorted it to fit humans' desires until it's not the Gospel anymore but rather spiritual poison that tastes like candy. 

but what about me?

i looked at that envelope and cried. right in the middle of church, i cried.

because when i looked at that envelope i saw faces and names. those faces and names belong to people i know and love here in America that either do not know the Gospel, know it yet reject it, or know it but haven't yet shown evidence of the Spirit in their hearts.  ones i have tried to tell, but probably not hard enough.  Mark. Lisa.  Joel.  Jennifer.  Nick.  Max.  Mary.  Jaime.  even Ike, the creeper. the list goes on. Miriam.  Isabel.  always more.

i love, love, love celebrating Easter.  it is a time that brings me back to my knees in humble gratefulness for the miracle of mercy.

and i hate, hate, hate knowing there are those so near and dear to me that cannot celebrate it- can't celebrate anything, really, because they are dead and don't even know it.

if i can pay thousands of dollars to tell people on the other side of globe about Jesus, and give more money for other people to reach Americans, how can i do less?

if there were a dollar price tag on these souls, there is nothing that would prevent me from earning, finding, getting or even stealing the needed money. i would get every last penny and not rest until i did.  i would campaign like the best politician ever, buy a bullhorn, sell every possible possession i owned.

how much would i give for them to come to know Christ? 

would i give money?

would i give more?  what about my self-esteem?  my public image? my friendships? what would i risk for them?

the beautiful problem is that there IS a price tag.  it's just not in dollar signs.  the cost is "1 perfect soul."

and that's something i do not have, and can never earn or buy or find or steal or get.

...because it's already been paid. the only perfect soul gave itself so that people from every nation and tribe could be redeemed. because of the most incomprehensible and extreme exchange ever conceived, my soul is now counted as "perfect," and the promise is that His grace can cover the souls of those i pray for, too.  He already gave the "Everything" that was demanded.

i cannot buy with money forgiveness for my loved ones.

i cannot intrigue them with my long journey to tell them the Gospel, because they are right here.

but i can tell them what God did for me, and what He did and can do for them. and it WILL cost me- just not as much is dollars.  but i CAN give it.

and i CAN give so that all the other Marks, Lisas, Maxs, Joels, Jennifers, Nicks that mean so much to others can hear.

everybody knows somebody who does not believe.  everybody knows somebody who needs to hear, or hear again, hear urgently, the message that there IS hope, there IS an eternity, and there IS an answer for this world and the next. 

so give.

and then tell.  or tell again.

Dear Mark, Lisa, Joel, Jennifer, Max, Nick, Miriam and Isabel- i will never stop praying for you guys.  you mean so much to me that i would even risk a friendship, risk offending anyone, risk my life here and risk possessions, money and sanity to tell you that you are worth more than the world to a Savior.  a Savior who knows your name, your good side, your bad side. a Savior who demands justice...so much so that He pleaded "guilty" in your stead so that you could walk off Death Row freely.

you guys are surrounded.

surrounded by friends who want to tell you more, surrounded by a world shouting His praises for you to sing along with, surrounded by a God who loves you more than you can imagine.  

this Easter i hope you are blown away by the miraculous love, grace and mercy that i found, that your eyes are opened and your hearts healed.  that this is the Easter that lasts forever for you, and that somehow, someway, you are filled with His blessed peace that you can rest in forever.