Exiting My World. Entering Yours.

First, I want to introduce you a little to my current world. I am at the end of my first week of three at Missions Training International in a very nice hotel/lodge-like place in Colorado. There are 39 people in the program, and this group seems particularly young with many in their twenties, some married with children, some just married, and quite a few singles. It has been a good group thus far and I feel very blessed to be here. We spend our days with classes from 8:00-4:00 with breaks and meals in between and left to spend our evenings as we wish, often with games and good conversation. I'm enjoying the beauty of Colorado. Just today I hiked up Mount Herman nearby. It was so beautiful.

(view outside my window! There's a train,though not very visible here in the picture)

(at the top of Mt. Herman)

(view of Pike's Peak from Mt. Herman)

One of the main things that we are discussing and learning here at Missions Training International in Colorado is about exiting your own world to enter the world of others. This is a fact of missionaries, but one of the most striking things about what we've discussed is that this concept of learning to exit your own frame of reference and entering into another's is that we do not have to wait for "missionary training" or for actually going onto the field to practice and learn this. It is an everyday part of our lives. Our training field is here and now, most importantly with the family and friends we come in contact with every day.

I want to and attempt to go "cross-cultural" and understand another world, and God may very well be laughing from up above (with grace) saying to me, "Karen, you want to leave your world and enter into this new world in Mexico? You can't even do it with the people that are around you now! Start there first!" You see, how many times have I expected others to see and do things my way, to enter into my world? When was the last time I initiated entering into someone else's world? And especially with my family? I can't say I've done a very good job. I've been missing out on my missions training all these years!

But today is a new day, with many opportunities to practice this yet. And only by God's grace, will I be able to do this. It is only by crying out "God, help!" that I can truly even attempt to "cross cultures." So I challenge you to think through this: how much do you really seek to exit your own world and enter into someone else's? Cry out to God today that He would enable you to do this as He did this for us, leaving His heavenly world to enter into ours. Praise the Lord that Jesus Christ did this for us!