Halo or Horns?

More answers to your questions….

“Wow, you are going to Africa! That is great! I could never do that.”

Okay, so that is not a question, but it is by far the most popular response we get when we tell people what we are doing. To be honest, it is this response that makes me hesitant to tell people about becoming missionaries. It makes me so uncomfortable. Non Christians look at me like I am a weird religious do-gooder and Christians look at me like I have a halo above my head.



This makes me uncomfortable because I am neither of these. In fact, I am far from it! To be honest, I am a terrible person. I am prone to negativity and laziness. I care too much about material things. I find gossip enthralling. I overeat when I am stressed. I am bad at keeping up relationships. I am horribly impatient. I am very judgmental. And this is just the beginning of a very long list. Trust me; there is a greater chance of seeing horns than a halo!


But for some reason, God has a plan for me in Africa. He is funny that way. He often uses scum buckets like me to do cool things. Take for example these losers that the Bible talks about:
• Jacob- put goatskin on his arms to deceive his dying father and steal from his brother! Yet God used him to father the tribes of Israel (God’s chosen people)
• Moses- had such a temper that he smashed the tablets that were written by God and he made the people drink them! Yet God used him to lead the Israelites out of slavery.
• Noah- got drunk and exposed himself to his kids! Yet God used him to build a big boat to save humanity and animals.
• Paul- was the most notorious Christian killer! Yet God used him to spread Christianity around the world.
• And it wasn’t just the men! The three women named in Jesus’ genealogy- Tamar- seduced her father-in-law, Rahab- was a hooker, and Bathsheba- although married, gave into a lustful affair!
• God even used an ass- literally an ass as in a donkey- to get His plan accomplished!



So if God can use liars, anger management attendees, drunken exhibitionists, murderers, seducers, prostitutes, adulterers, and asses, I guess he can use Josh and I and you too!

So to answer your question or um comment, yes it is great!

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God." (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).


And yes you can because He can!

Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I'm proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. (1 Timothy 1:15-19 The Message)