Hijacked By A Missionary
”When one of your missionary newsletters pops up in my inbox I feel like I’ve been hijacked.”
He said the words with what I couldn't determine was sarcasm or annoyance.
Eager to get away from the comment, I simply changed the subject.
This was a choice I soon regretted because that silly little sentence went on to bother me at random times for the next twelve years.
For a Missionary, the newsletter is no small thing. It is in itself, awkward. It’s like writing your yearly Christmas update every month with a slightly odd twist at the end because you’re asking for money.
A W K W A R D.
But packed inside of that newsletter is your entire heart.
It’s not just information, not simply an update.
It’s the story of what God has done, is doing and what you long for Him to do in a place far from the ordinary.
The Missionary task is to convey these extraordinary experiences to those on their home team who have made it possible by giving their hard earned cash to the missionary instead of going out to dinner with the family, adding the funds to a college savings or in many cases, putting off household repairs or delaying vacations. These are extraordinary choices that collectively allow for missions to happen.
And what the missionary really does NOT want to do is inadvertently convey the idea that—-he’s EXTRAORDINARY—- and those at home are simply ordinary.
This causes many missionaries to tone down the language of their updates, and for some it all together causes them to feel repulsed at the idea of “reporting” on the events of their life.
Many feel a sense of insecurity when they hit that SEND button on their email. They wonder if anyone will read it, if one might take it the wrong way or…if it really matters at all.
And thats exactly where the enemy likes to keep the missionary. Right there vacillating between the …. “don’t be proud..” or “no one cares” mode.
That way no one hears the God story.
Yet doesn’t scripture tell us, we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony? (Rev 12:11)
Trust me, it’s no small feat when a missionary shares the story and it often comes with much travail.
Perhaps this is why the hijacking comment put me off so badly.
Did he mean he didn’t want to read it but was forced to? Yikes.
I really should have asked.
I’m writing today with the good news of a mystery unlocked.
I get it now, because I was hijacked by a missionary as well.
Stacy Swenson.
I was busy with a list of tasks to check off after a week away on vacation and my inbox alerted me to Stacy’s email.
I’m her mission director so I dutifully opened her letter (one of my favorite parts of the job) to read this:
(spoiler alert…you might get hijacked too)
And she ended it with this:
Staring at my computer screen I heard the forever haunting comment leap back into the front of my mind,
”When one of your missionary newsletters pops up in my inbox I feel like I’ve been hijacked.”
At that moment I could have found myself saying the exact same thing to Stacy Swenson.
I got it.
I understood what he meant.
I was simply going about my everyday life and then bam.
The story of God…right there out of nowhere commanding total attention, total shock and awe and total praise.
It turns out, the poor guy was likely never annoyed or even being sarcastic. He was conveying to me that the interruption by the story of God that was written in my updates had arrested him from his daily activities and gave pause to all other things. Perhaps he was even moved to donate money he didn’t expect to part with.
And sitting here on the other side of the missions story, at the end of Stacy’s letter…I could finally understand and completely relate.
He was hijacked by a missionary…or better yet, hijacked by God, and now I was too.
