“They are all chasing a great dream. They are all looking for answers. But they don’t realize is that they have found it already. They have found it in one another.”

Diego Luna - in the preview for the upcoming movie Mister Lonely

We, as a people, need each other. But, we’ve conditioned ourselves to believe that we need our independence. We define ourselves by who is the most independent. If I don’t need anyone, then I am self-sufficient and if I’m self-sufficient then I’m more capable than the next guy. And if I’m capable, then I seem strong and in control. Though now, if feel capable, I also begin feel alone. The tragedy here is that only through interdependence will we find wholeness. The Lord intended it that way (see Matthew 18:20 or Acts 2:46-47).

We’re all off running our own ways, working so hard so grapple for control, but we can’t escape this feeling of emptiness. It never goes away. Why can’t we dream together and chase these dreams together? That’s how we will find the answers… that’s how we should purse the Lord… that’s how we were meant to live.

This was taken on the banks of the Methow River in central Washington.

In response to my post on Missions, I received this amazing picture from Mel who wrote:

“…my friend Kate went to Malawi and Uganda last summer between her jr/sr year of college…this is a picture of her holding the hand of a leaper while talking to Jesus for the first time…”

What a beautiful picture of missions.

“…unconditional and unlimited love is what the evangelist John calls God’s first love. “Let us love, he says, “because God loves us first (1 John 4:19).”

” To live a life that is not dominated by the desire to be relevant but is instead safely anchored by the knowledge of God’s first love, we have to be mystics. A mystic is a person who identity is deeply rooted in God’s first love.”

Henry Nouwen - In the Name of Jesus

So are you a mystic?

“The history of missions is the history of answered prayer. From Pentecost to the Haystack meeting in New England and from the days when Robert Morrison landed in China to the martyrdom of John and Betty Stam, prayer has been the source of power and the secret of spiritual triumph.” - Samuel Zwemer

So what’s your definition of missions?