I was asked to send a blurb to promote the coming Student Global Impact conference to young adults--I extend the promo to any of my readers here:
Ever licked a frosty icicle? I have--and therefore conclude that personal experience is not the best teacher. It teaches, sure enough, but, ooooh, it can hurt! After the authoritative Word of God, the best teacher is the wise counsel of others who have been where you may be going, like a mother who tells her kids, "don't lick the icicles lest they stick to your tongue!" When I was a younger missionary, I "licked a lot of icicles" and found myself with two options: one, rip them off, or two, wait (and wait and wait) for the frozen fangs to melt away. The first option brought blood and pain; the second, inefficiency and embarrassment.
There's a better option, a biblical principle for the young adult: "Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23). When I heard about SGI, I was both thrilled for your generation and jealous for mine--what an opportunity! The wealth of wisdom, the breadth of instruction, the intensity of fellowship, the pounding of hundreds of young hearts all in tandem with God's heartbeat for the world! This is bigger than huge! I'll be as excited to be in the audience learning as I am to share what I've learned. And it's not just for rising foreign missionaries; not just about missiological dos and don'ts. It's about vision: zooming out to see the big picture and zooming in on our role in it. It's about networking: meeting up, teaming up, scheming up with kindred spirits you never knew existed. Above all, it's about nobody and nothing else but the Lord Jesus Christ and the honor we have to send His Gospel into the world!
Of course "buying the truth" isn't free. The SGI Conference has a cost: a little money, a few days, and the mental and spiritual intensity of a sustained Olympian workout. We'll come away sore, but not sorry. See you there.
0 responses:
Post a Comment