Family reunion in the Solomon Islands

In two weeks, I'm taking a trip to the Solomon Islands with the Discovery program of Wycliffe Bible Translators. I'll be gone for a total of six weeks, serving with a team of 14 American expatriates. Half of my team will do language work (literacy, surveying, data collection, etc.) and half will do ethnoarts work (you're asking the wrong person).

As a team, we're reading two books together. One of them, Short-term Missions Workbook by Tim Dearborn, contains this quote:

"In cross cultural encounters, we are meeting long-lost, distant relatives."

I think that's pretty awesome. Meeting and talking to people who are very different from me has always been a big struggle. I know it will be something I will face in the Solomons and this book has definitely helped me gain a new perspective--hopefully one that will make it easier for me. Making friends with strangers is scary. Finally meeting my great aunt Sue's grandson's wife's uncle's step-daughter is an opportunity I wouldn't pass up!

I've been learning a lot from these books. The other book is Cross-cultural Servanthood by Duane Elmer. Reading it has made me realize some interesting things about service. I started to see this phenomenon happen while I was on a mission trip in D.C. over spring break this past year. Service can actually be a really selfish thing. We often say that when we serve, we want to make a difference. Why do we want that? Because it means we helped someone. It means we did something good. It means the world approves of our labor. It means we matter. It makes us feel good about ourselves. So how much of service is about others, and how much is really about us?

In D.C., I noticed that this poisonous attitude was beginning to surface in my own heart as I was assigned the task of chopping olives in half for about two hours, but I wasn't sure what to do about it. After I started reading this book, it began to make sense. We wrongfully approach servanthood as a means to an end. We humble ourselves in order to be exalted by God, as Christ was exalted. Doing this makes our reason for serving a selfish one. In reality, we are called to be like Christ, not in his role as King or Judge or Lord, but in his role as a lowly servant. The one who put on the towel and washed the feet of his friends. "We are never more like Jesus than when we serve others." (This distinction resonates with me SO MUCH because I always struggle with the dichotomy of striving to be like Christ but also being a sinner who has no right to tell anyone what to do. Now I see. I hope you see, too.) Serving others should not be something that we do because want accolades or we want a resume-booster or even because we feel good when we do it. It should be how we live. It should be our identity. It should be the default motivation of our actions. Philippians 2:3-11.

I have a long way to go in this book. We're supposed to have it finished by Saturday, which is when we have our next Skype date as a team! I'm pretty excited. So far, the author seems to feel that most people haven't mastered or even grasped the true manner of a Christ-like servant. But Mr. Elmer is doing his best to help us all figure it out. I want to serve the people of the Solomon Islands the way God intends for me to. I pray that He enables me. More than that, I want to live a lifestyle of service.