Born for Rescue: A 5-Day DevotionalSample

EMBRACE BROKENNESS AND REFUSE TO DO NOTHING

TODAY’S STORYLINE

My time in Afghanistan was not the first time God revealed to me His purposes in impossible situations. In fact, one experience in particular changed everything for me.

On the last day of my first trip to South Sudan, we came upon a group of about 70 men, women, and children. Their village had been attacked the night before, and they were the only survivors. There were numerous elderly people among them who were in bad shape. Many of the villagers’ clothes were torn and ripped from running through the jungle bush—and their bodies were cut up, bleeding, and injured.

It was about 120 degrees that day, and this group of survivors huddled together under the fleeting shade of a small copse of trees. The shade stretched no wider than several hundred square feet, and they crammed together in it, just trying to find some relief from the blistering heat. Emotionally, they were reeling from the devastation. They had lost loved ones. Children. Husbands. Fathers. Wives. Mothers.

I put myself in their shoes—and I was never the same.

These people were hundreds of miles from food, water, and shelter, and we had absolutely nothing to give them. It was really an accident that we had come across them in the first place. I have never felt so helpless. Even if we could have walked to get water for them, they didn’t have any cans or containers to store it. No plates or cups. No clothes. No blankets. No phones. Nothing. No one knew they were there. No one was coming to help. They were literally standing in the middle of nowhere, still looking back over their shoulders in case their attackers might emerge again at any moment.

And we had to leave them in this state of being— we had to go.

What happened next is something I remember like it was yesterday. We got into our car, and I was sitting in the back seat on the passenger side. As we started to pull away, and they were looking back over their shoulders in fear, I looked back at them over my shoulder, in turmoil.

A strong, undeniable thought entered my mind: doing nothing is no longer an option.

SEEING YOUR OWN STORY

It’s time for us to stop being surprised at brokenness and instead embrace its universal role in each of our lives—and see that God is not limited by our limitations. It is human nature to want to elevate other humans. We love superhero stories and any narrative that makes a certain person seem better than the rest of us. Such stories infuse us with hope to keep reaching for where they are, but also make us feel ashamed that we never seem to get there. The truth is, they probably haven’t actually “gotten there” either. Moving videos and photos of good, even incredible experiences usually edit out the unseemly parts. The moment you lost your cool. The moment you doubted God. The moment you wanted to burn it all to the ground.

These are all important parts of your story—and I share each of these ugly parts in my own story.

Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that God has created us for the kind of work only He can accomplish, yet He includes us in His redemptive process. It is my hope that these few stories and insights will ignite at least a tiny flicker within you to realize that you need not be extraordinary for God to do extraordinary things in your soul and in His world.

“Normal” people are not only welcome; they are the key to God’s whole plan. What about recovering addicts? What about divorcées who work minimum wage jobs and struggle to make ends meet? What about parents just trying to keep their children from screwing up their lives? What about pew sitters with pacemakers and hotheads who are far from peacemakers? Where do they fit in God’s big story of redemption and adventure?

What about you? In God’s real story, you are on every page—so embrace the fact that God is working in your brokenness to continually move you towards wholeness, and then refuse to do nothing as you engage the suffering of others in this broken world.

LET’S PRAY

Father, from the moment I was born, You intended to rescue me. I pray that You will allow me to embrace my ongoing need for Your active intervention in every aspect of my life. Only You can make me whole, so don’t let me be found giving only half of myself to Your purposes. Lead me into the specific plans You have for me and let me be found refusing to do nothing with this life You’ve given me. Amen.

The incredible organization that I have the honor of leading is called Crisis Aid. You have just read merely a few of the stories that only God could write in the lives of an incredible group of people all around the world who keep refusing to do nothing. However, Crisis Aid actually started because of an argument I had with God on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan—not exactly the most noble of beginnings. https://bornforrescue.com/