Vindication...I think

I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad to say this, but the biggest thing I got out of today didn't really come out of the general sessions, but more out of the exhibits and "experiences there.

Before we come to that, I'm glad to report that we met up with Rev Jhan and Iris Hurst and had a great time catching up with them. "Sole" is gonna take on a whole new meaning.

We also met up with Dallas Hinds, who was at our previous Missions Conference. It was a great time talking story with him and seeing where God is taking him.

Okay, onto where God's taking me:

I heard a very interesting testimony today. Lemme insert the disclaimer here that I'm not trying to weasel out of missions or put anybody down by any means, and I'm sorta ranting my head off here trying to figure my thoughts out as I type them.

A young man gave a testimony about his journey into missions at the "International Missions" experience. What made his especially intriguing was the means and timing to which God called him, which was unusual(at least to me) in every sense of the word. While all the missions conferences, conventions, speakers seem to want to garner this commitment from me to go to missions NOW(there will be an altar call for those interested in committing to a one year missions trip and praying about a lifetime commitment tommorrow), this young man took a longer path. This young man had come back from a missions trip and had felt a tug on his heart, he couldn't stand to go back to school, and I guess the whole "daily grind" of regular life, and he longed to be back on the missions field. Now anybody else in this situation would've immediately dropped what they were doing, quit school, packed up and left. Everybody would've been behind him to do so, and probably would've even encouraged that behavior. Instead, this young man sought the counsel of the husband of our first night's speaker. The end result, he WAITED until he finished his education, got his degree, and then went back into the missions field.

How does this apply to me? As you know, I'm the type of guy that always has to count the costs. Call it heredity or habitat, but thats just how I am. I always hate(sorry for the strong use of the word) when I'm asked to rush into these commitments that can be life-changing. Maybe its because our church is so missions-minded, but I feel so much pressure being at this conference. I almost feel like a failure not being on my hands and knees weeping and sucking concrete at the World Missions Summit where I'm supposed to get "messed up". I feel like a failure every year at the Missions Conference where I can't quite check off a box on the missions trips I'm interested in. I feel like if I don't come back to Calvary a full-fledged gungho missionary, then I somehow failed everyone who sacrificed their hard-earned money sending me there.

Did God stir up something in the last Calvary AoG Missions Conference for the first time? Most definitely. Too bad nobody ever asked me. Too bad that for once I actually ended the missions conference on a positive note. Too bad that the devil took that and totally wrecked the whole experience for me within a few hours of the conference ending. Too bad I took that dream and stuffed it back down where I thought it belonged. Enter M.E.

Medical Evangelism(M.E.) re-awakened that dream in me. A few of us with backgrounds and educations in the health care field went to visi their booth in the convention hall. This is exactly what I had been hoping for. I wasn't able to get much information, but I'm sure the degree I'm working towards can be put to good use there. As much as I hated God for it, it took me quite a long time to finally get accepted into the Dietetics program here at UH. It's no coincidence that in that same semester I would be taking a food/animal/human ethics course that featured a case study in which an RD went with an organization into a foreign country to help those in need. It's no coincidence that during that same semester our church hosted Pastor Bijuu Thampy. I managed to talk to him for a few minutes on Halloween before he left. I was curious as to how he managed all the food he fed to people, and he mentioned that they worked with a few dieticians! Right then and there I decided that I wanted to do something along those lines, maybe even work with Pastor Bijuu himself. But when?

Hearing the testimony today was great vindication for me. I learned that I didn't have to immediatly jump on the bandwagon, that its okay for me to wait and finish what I need to finish in terms of my degree before I go out to do work in the missions field. I don't have to feel like a failure. God's ordering my steps.

Hoping to learn more about Medical Missions,
Dustin
I'm not perfect, just forgiven.

edit: just realized I didn't even mention the "Eurasia Experience". If I had to sum it up, it left me with my eyes wide open as just to how ill-prepared I actually am for this sorta thing. I got so disoriented with people tugging on me and my bags, pushing me around, trying to talk to me, asking me for money, trying to sell me prostitutes, that I sorta just froze and shuffled my way to the seating area. Not very missionary-like huh?

edit 2: forgot to mention that we had lunch with Bob Buenos and Glen(darn forgot his last name). Very blessed.