Christina’s new blog
October 4, 2009
Christina Melton, missionary to Montenegro, has just started her blog, listed on the sidebar of this page. Here is her first entry:
Almost there…
So I am less that 17 days from flying out of the United States, and all I can think about is “how in the world can I get my mandolin to Montenegro?”
You see, I feel somewhat like a middle school student picking teams in gym class. Space is limited, and I have to decide which winter coat I will take, which shoes, which pair of jeans. Losing my luggage has made me less attached to my “stuff,” but there is sentimental value to some items for which there is simply no room in the inn. The running shoes– a must. The flats? Not so much…
But I don’t want to talk about clothing or material items. Sorting is only making me realize how incredibly close I am to leaving the life that I have only recently become comfortable living.
For the first time in over 18 months, I am confident in my present job. I have a group of supportive believers in my life who span a couple of generations, a first as of last year. I am beginning to appreciate the friendships that I have long taken for granted.
Yet the words of Jesus continue to ring in my ears:
“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
My plow: a one-way ticket to Montenegro. It is such an incredible blessing to go to live with the believers of Podgorica, to worship the Lord in Serbian, to eat priganice (and more sausage than any digestive system was ever meant to handle); to live by faith that the Spirit of God will remind people to pray for me and will encourage some to help me pay my rent; to trust that somehow He will provide bread when my hungry neighbor comes in the middle of the night and I simply have nothing to give.
I count it an honor and a privilege to be thrust into the realization of the reality that we all face, yet are seldom aware of: apart from Him, we can do nothing.
So now, here’s to looking ahead; for the Kingdom forcefully advances, and to my knowledge, never retreats.
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