Jesus was saying do I love him more than my family? Do I love him more than my own life? Do I love him more than my own dreams? And it just really hit me and I had a powerful experience with God.

Literally, within three weeks, I was on a plane heading overseas.

We wanted to follow God and whatever God had for us.

There was nothing long-term for me. It was just be obedient, at this point, and go overseas.

The guy looked at me and said, “Are you willing to die in the Middle East?”

It’s not a matter of calling to be in that place as much as it is; we’re not doing this together.

It’s good to be on the same page because spiritual warfare, the task of being God’s representative needs to be a demonstration of unity and love, togetherness, commitment. That is just central to being in that part of the world as a married couple.

We’ve had several times where we were in situations that we hated. And yet, at the same time, very, very clear sense of God saying, “Just stay where you are.”

God is more concerned about our obedience. Will we do what he asks us to do whether we like it or not?

Are these people even reading the same New Testament that I am?

Things got tough. Things got hard. It was overwhelming. And you wanted to quit. Each time I would go back, there was that sense of God saying, “My grace is sufficient. It’s not time yet. Keep going.” And then you keep going.

What is God saying to you for that moment?

It’s not about did I finish a task. Did I create some new ministry? But am I actually listening and following what God has for me at that point?

It’s important that we don’t leave unless we’re released.

The tension we realized, was when I came back, I would bring the whirlwind back into the home. And my whirlwind would disrupt the stability of the homeschooling and routines.

A lot of people believe there is a hierarchy here of how you spend your time. It’s God. It’s family. It’s ministry. Something along these lines. But he said, “That doesn’t seem to fit what I see in scripture.” Now, obviously, God is central; God is the number one thing. But God is going to hold me accountable if I’m a good Father. He will hold me accountable if I’m a good husband. He will hold me accountable if I have used the gift he has given. And for the ministry, he has empowered me to do. So he likes to put it more as a circle; at the center of it is God, and then around the circle, we have responsibilities where God expects us to do well in these.

The Bible is a big book. But when I think that the God who created the universe has given this to us. And everything that we need for life and godliness, he’s told it to us in these words. What an amazing thing!

The danger is more: do we put ourselves up on that pedestal? Do we think we’re hot stuff? Do we think we have something that they don’t have?

God is more concerned with us as individuals and our relationship with him than anything we’re doing in terms of task on the mission field.