Thanks For Being Sick

Last Thursday marked the start of the annual SBC Conference. This year it was at Emmanuel. I had so much to do that I really hadn't planned on going....too busy (more on that word in a second). Then it happened. Steve got really sick. That never happens. He might get a sniffle here and there but it's been 7 or 8 years since he's been in-the-bed-sick. He left work mid-morning and spent the rest of the day throwing up.

The problem? Aside from the obvious, he had jobs to do at the conference. So, I became his pinch hitter. And I'm so glad. Here was our conversation in his office after it concluded on Saturday:

J: I know why you were sick Thursday & Friday.

S: Oh yeah, why's that?

J: It was for me. I needed to hear Dr. Rankin speak and I wouldn't have come if I didn't have to fill in for you. God knew I desperately needed to be there. So, thanks for being sick.

S: Sure, anything for you.

This year's theme was "Living Like A Missionary" and while there were other speakers I didn't get to hear (because I had to work during the day), I did get to hear the featured speaker - Dr. Jerry Rankin, President of the SBC's International Mission Board. He was phenomenal! I really wish I could have taken notes while listening rather than working in the sound booth while I listened. I'll have to get the DVDs. In the meantime I recalling a few things:

You need not go to a foreign land to live like a missionary--we're all called to be missionaries, wherever God has us.

This one I frequently forget. After all, being a missionary is really about proclaiming the gospel and living out a Christ-centered life while loving the people around you, wherever that is.

BUSY is an acronym for being under Satan's yoke.

I like that. I'd also heard it as the "captivity of activity" before which is also good. It was a reminder that ministry is not about doing things. It's easy to get caught up doing this and that, running here and there, all the while forgetting it's about WHO we're serving, not what we're doing. Good word.

You can't say "I've already been there and done that" as it relates to serving. NO! Get up off your backside, find a younger woman, and TEACH HER!

This came from the panel discussion and the women's speaker, Esther Burroughs. I heard very little of her because she spoke to the women mostly during the day. But what I did hear, I loved every single word. We hear this a lot...well, I used to serve...but....BUT WHAT? You're too old? No such thing--ever--in scripture. You serve until God takes you home.

And almost lastly, I loved the story he shared about the SBC missionaries killed while serving in Iraq. They'd been there 2 months when 4 of the 5 died from a terrorist attack. The one who survived had 21 gunshot wounds and had to be put in a medically induced coma because of the severity of the injuries. One of the women wrote a letter to her pastor to be read in case she didn't make it home. Here's a line from it:

I have no regrets. Glory to God! Glory to God!

A life of serving God, including giving your life, and no regrets. That is definitely something to aspire to. Finally, Dr. Rankin told of the funeral of a couple (he was a doctor) who had sold everything to go to the mission field. They, too, were martyred. At their funeral one of their children said:

Their lives weren't taken, they gave them. The day they went to the mission field they laid their lives on the altar and died to themselves daily.

And in the comforts of my surroundings, I often think I've got it tough and it's all too much. Oh, that I would learn to put it in perspective.