By Gayla Parker, BCM/D WMU Executive Director, Missionary for Missions Education and
Gayla Parker
Customization, Missions Innovator Specialist (WMU, SBC)
While in high school my youngest son, Jesse, was asked to write a poem using a particular structure. The topic was irrelevant. As you might imagine, writing poems was not on his top ten (or even top 100) list of things “I want to do today.” Jesse played on the varsity basketball team and would have much preferred a little b-ball with his teammates. But the assignment was due and to stay on the basketball team, grades had to be maintained. There is nothing like a little incentive to get an unwanted job done. This is the poem that Jesse wrote that afternoon:
Running here and there
Looking for where I’m from
Going to the very depth of the earth
Looking for where I’m from
I’ve searched the deepest cave
And looked over the highest cloud
Running here and there looking under this and that
I’ve gone to the depth of the earth and to the farthest star
I am lost and looking for where I’m from
I’ve searched the deepest cave
and looked over the highest cloud
Swam to the bottom of the sea
And climbed the highest mount
I am lost and searching for where I’m from
I’ve looked under every rock and in every tree
I am lost and searching for where I’m from
Then on a hill with a cross called Mount Calvary
I find my home.
By the time you read this article the Southern Baptist Convention will be over. There will have been much said about the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Report. There are and will be varying opinions on the GCR report. But my prayer is this, when it is all said and done we can all agree on this, there are many in our world who are lost and dying without the eternal life that can be found in Jesus Christ. There are billions who are searching for “where I’m from.” We can be the GPS in their lives. We can lead them to Mount Calvary, the place that offers eternal life for all.
Over the next few years The North American Mission Board will be talking about GPS (God’s Plan for Salvation). Perhaps your church is already participating. If not, maybe now is the time to agree to be the GPS for someone who is lost and searching.
I’m forever grateful that Jesse found Mt. Calvary and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. But there thousands of children, students, and adults who are still wandering, “running here and there.” They have “searched the deepest cave” in the drug and alcohol world. They have looked “over the highest cloud” in the financially successful world. They have “swam to bottom of the sea and climbed the highest mount” in the sports world. They have looked “under every rock and behind every tree” searching in books and false religions. But they are still lost, running here and there searching. Take time today and be the GPS for them and help them find Mt. Calvary and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.