In the beginning of my missionary experience, I never knew 12 years later that such a partnership would develop between my home state and Russia. I cannot wait to see what plans the Lord has to unite the two--Georgia Baptists and the Russian Baptist Union. As I read the article in the Christian Index today, my heart was overjoyed. I immediately had thoughts of home about packing for the trip. So, I flipped through my journal pages and found some of my first meanderings about leaving home to live in Russia as an IMB missionary. And I sincerely want to thank you dear people from Helena Baptist Church in Helena and Southside Baptist in McRae, Georgia. Because you are the ones who taught me the words to the song:: "This Little Light of Mine".
Journal entry in The Chosen Path: Standing in the middle of my bedroom in Eastman, Georgia, I looked around and wondered where to begin. The back pack and trunks sat on the floor empty. As my eyes circled the room, I did not know where to start. Grabbing a shirt here and a pair of pants there, I finally commenced throwing things in the luggage. There was so much stuff. Where did I get all these things? As I prepared and gathered items for my voyage, I really did not know what I would need. Somehow I sorted through the important things and stored the other behind.
I really did not know what was necessary until I arrived at my destinations. With each trip along the way, I soon realized what was required more than anything else. My relationship with the Lord is the most valuable piece or possession that I must have. I was stripped, so to speak, of family, friends, church programs, Christian music and worship services in my heart language. How does a person survive without these dependencies? It is really very simple; however, I must have been rather stubborn on the first few legs of my journey to figure it out. There I sat with my backpack full just waiting for the few items that I crammed in all the pockets to satisfy my every need.
As I plopped on my floor in Russia one day, unlike mine at home, it finally dawned on me. My very existence and livelihood depends on the Lord. All we need is Him! I asked God to help me. I asked God to bring me closer to Him. I wanted to only seek Him for satisfaction. I wanted Him to provide for my every need.
That is when my learning process really began. A person cannot learn until they are willing to listen. In a classroom a teacher instructs and attempts to lead her students to understanding. However, until students have the desire to learn and entrust their attention in the teacher, they will not understand. They may go through the motions of learning but never gain wisdom or true knowledge. Learning comes through application. It was time for me to practice what I had been taught over the years and was being taught day by day.
Remembering my childhood days as I sang the old spiritual, children’s song, “This Little Light of Mine”, I realized that my light was moved to another part of the world. Though the faces changed, the words changed and the entire culture was different, my relationship with Jesus was the same. I could not hide my light under a bushel waiting for the familiar to carry me through and out into the world, but I had to hold it up and stand in Him alone to shine (Matthew 5:14). If I did not get my act together, I was not going to make it or be effective in any way.
Reflecting back, I started to formulate who I was and who I was becoming.
In His Love,
Les
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