Everyone knows that you usually have to take some risks if you want to get rewards.
A mountain climber risks a fall for the thrill of seeing the spectacular view at the top. A boy takes a risk to ask a girl on a date. She might say no, but he'll never know if he doesn't ask. An entrepreneur takes a risk in starting a business, hoping that it grows and prospers. An athlete takes a risk to try out for the team, anticipating the reward of playing. A musician risks performing, wanting to move people with their performance.
I’ve found that following Jesus means taking some risks as well. Some time back we received a letter from a long time friend named Doug. When we read it we were thrilled, because we caught a glimpse of a good return on a scary risk that God led us to take many years ago.
Here’s the way it happened. My wife, Sharon, and I served on staff with Cru at the University of Missouri from 1975 to 1977. One of the students in our leadership group was a young man named Doug. At the end of the university year in 1977 we felt the Lord leading me to go to seminary. Doug was graduating from Mizzou at the same time and he sensed a call to serve with Cru as a missionary in a country in Africa. We were very excited and started praying for him as he began seeking partners to help fund his ministry to serve there.
"Give away how much?!"
By that time we had gradually saved $1500 which would cover my first semester’s tuition at seminary. We really didn’t know where the rest would come from, but felt we would figure out how to pay for it after getting settled in, finding jobs and investigating different funding possibilities. In my prayer times during those waning days of that spring semester, however, I strongly sensed the Lord saying, “Give $1200 of your savings to Doug to help him get to Africa.”
Now, I was quite alarmed by this. I knew that this was all we had to begin my studies so I argued with God about it over the next few days. In making our move to Dallas we had no place to live lined up, we had no jobs, and no guarantee of future funds for schooling. We only had a conviction that God was leading us there. Nevertheless, I kept sensing that he wanted us to give this money to help Doug get to Africa.
I didn't think Sharon would go for it
Finally I told God, “Well, I need to talk to Sharon about this, and if you’re really in it, I need her to confirm that this is what we should do.” We were packing up and heading to "Big D" and I felt quite sure that she would be very reluctant to give away 80% of the money we had in our bank account before heading into an uncertain future.
But I was wrong. When I told her what I felt God was leading us to do, her response was, “Well, if that is what he’s telling you, I’m all for it!” (By the way, that has been her attitude our whole married life, and I am so grateful for her. She has followed me into some pretty crazy situations and she has expressed firm confidence, not in me, ultimately, but in the the Lord in whom she puts her trust.)
So, we gave $1200 to help Doug get started as a missionary in Africa. He was there for several years where he met his wife who was also on staff with Cru. They moved on from there to other assignments in the Middle East and then back in the U.S., where they still serve with Cru today.
We were thrilled to hear about the "pay off" many years later
In that letter we received from Doug he told about a recent trip he took after many years' absence to the original country where he first served. He was able to reconnect with one of the students that he mentored almost forty years ago. This man is still walking closely with the Lord and has great influence in the country, for now he is its Prime Minister! What a joy it was to hear about Doug’s reunion with him and how his ministry to this influential man while he was a young student is still impacting him today. It was thrilling for us to realize that we played a small part that God used to help get Doug to the nation where he met this young man and started this future prime minister on a lifetime of following Jesus.
This story reminded us of a couple of important things: First, we have repeatedly had to learn that when God leads us to do something risky, it is seldom easy and often comes at a cost, but he most often uses it to do far beyond what we can imagine.
Second, you just never know how following the Lord’s lead will make an impact. In this case, as we gave to the Lord’s work through Doug, he used it (along with many others’ investments in Doug’s faithful ministry) to develop the spiritual foundation of a future Prime Minister of a country.
Only eternity will really tell
Only eternity will really tell the true impact of those who risked following Jesus. In fact, I believe that those who have a personal faith relationship with Jesus will spend time in heaven rejoicing as they hear countless stories like Doug’s. God gave us the privilege of getting a glimpse of it now. I’m sure that there are multitudes of ways God is using the risks he leads his people to take that we will never know about until then, but we’ll one day find out that it was worth it when we see how those faith risks resulted in eternal returns.
(Oh, by the way, the Lord wonderfully provided for us during my four years of seminary training and we even finished debt free! But, that’s a story for another day)
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Are you looking for a good read? My friend, Tim Viertel, former Secret Service agent, has written an inspirational book of faith lessons called Protected based on experiences he had protecting high level government officials. You can find it on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Protected-Reflections-Secret-Service-Agent/dp/163296595X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=A6GBABL960R9&keywords=protected+by+tim+viertel&qid=1693583403&sprefix=tim+viert%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1
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