Final Day: Why Am I Here?

I missed yesterday's post.  This is not because God suddenly decided not to speak to me through anything yesterday, but because after almost a week of living out of a suitcase and being in a constant state of "what's next" it begins to wear on a person.  So, yesterday's post was left undone.  But today is a different day.

We leave tonight to head back home.  Our time here this year is over and it's gone much faster than expected.  We have three hours of VBS this morning, chores and cleanup after lunch, and then we drive to Hot Springs, SD for some R&R before heading home.  We should be in around midnight (Mountain Time).   Because of this I thought I would add one final entry about Pine Ridge and my experiences here from this year.

Yesterday I met up with an old friend, Jay Moon, from Sioux Falls Seminary (SFS).  Jay was my professor of missions and outreach.  Each year he brings a group of students from SFS to immerse them into the Native American culture.  It is a learning experience so that they might better understand how to bring Christ into that culture without destroying that culture.  The idea of the white man destroying a culture for the "sake of Christ" is no more evident than in the Native American culture.  Back in the day the white man and the church began to systematically drive the Indian out of them.  It didn't work.  All it did was create thicker walls that are extremely difficult for the church today to get past.  Jay is trying to teach the students he brings out here about these walls and how to best get beyond them to embrace the culture that was created by God, but misdirected away from him by sin (i.e. - sun dances, pow-wows, sweat lodges, etc.).

On the other hand, we come down here to preach the Gospel on our own.  There is very little native involvement, though at one time there was significant work done together.  We do not immerse ourselves into the culture and though we strive not to bring the "white man's religion" with us we make very little effort to understand the walls that have been built up.
What Jay and his team are doing and what we are doing are good, but inadequate.  Jay's team doesn't bring the salvation message with them.  They are there to learn.  We bring the Gospel message, but are not purposely learning about the culture.  Yes, Christ is sufficient, but that is no excuse to not embrace and learn about a culture.  Yes, it is good to learn about a culture, but that is no excuse not to purposely bring the Gospel message in all you do.

So, this brings up a very simple, but deeply intimate question.  Why am I here?  This is a question that not only I need to answer on this trip, but in every situation I find myself.  Why am I here at Pine Ridge?  Why am I the pastor at a church?  Why do I work where I do?  In other words, why has God placed me in the situation or place that I currently find myself?  We may think we know, but do we truly get all that Christ has purposed for our lives in the here and now.  Am I missing a huge chunk that He is desiring for me to get?  Am I only seeing half the message?

So, why are you where you are?  What is God's purpose for you here?  Are you glorifying God by preaching His Gospel to the people around you with your words and actions?  Are you getting into the lives of the people around you, their history and experiences, so that you can better understand how to serve, love, and preach the Gospel to them? 

Our lives are greater than the here and now.  God has an eternal purpose for us here.  Are we living for that eternal purpose?