The Road Less Travelled By

“The Road Less Travelled By” written by Robert Frost is one of my favorite poems. I especially love the last three lines:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

I wonder why in the poem the less travelled road made all the difference to the person. I suppose the answer is irrelevant. I suppose the point is that being the road less travelled there was something present that the road had to offer the traveler—something good.

Following Jesus is like that.  Being a disciple of Jesus makes an eternal  difference in our lives as it is the road less travelled by—even in today’s world of relativism and intolerance (in spite of all the vocalized views for tolerance).

Jesus said,

“Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 CEB

But we are able to find the gate/road to eternal life.  It’s not a hopeless pursuit. 

There was a time in my life as a younger Christian when I wanted to give up being a Christian--not because I no longer believed God existed or that Jesus was no longer my Savior. I was worn out. I was tired. Tired of struggling with sin. Tired of wrestling with myself and Satan. Tired of watching people fight. And I thought that if I gave up, then I wouldn't have to wrestle anymore. Life would be easier. 

But I knew I was wrong in my so called logic. And I knew that I was struggling with following Satan's lies--the easy road. 

Jesus also said,

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  --John 14:1-6 NIV

I knew that if I gave up on God, what that consequence would be. That, and Ed Wharton's class on Christian evidences was very convicting for me to remain faithful. Life with God is far better than a life without Him--in this world and in the next. And so Jesus is that gate through which we must pass. 

And so for Christians, following Jesus is the road less traveled. God gave us grace through Jesus. He took a hard road to bring us eternal life. I don't imagine it was easy for Jesus. He was tempted, and yet was without sin. He probably wrestled with His humanity. He fought Satan. He watched people fight. And yet He endured because He knew what He was going through was worth it to save us. And He knew that life with God was far better than a life without Him. And for us. So Jesus understands how rough life it at times. 

And so He died for us. I don't know of any other "god" that has done that for people. 

Jesus took the road less travelled by--and that has made all the eternal difference. 

-Jewel Melton

AIM 2002, Croatia

He Hears You, Dear One

The support ran out weeks ago. 

Your parents want you “home”.

The people at your congregation keep asking how your “vacation” is going.

Your team keeps fighting.

You and God haven’t spoken in days. 

What do you do when It seems the world has turned its back on you? What do you do when you have only your sword and shield against the invisible armies pumped to end your life at any second? What do you do when you can’t think of how to stay, but you can’t bear to go?

I was in this situation. I lived this reality six years ago. I was in a situation that was wonderful and full of pain all at the same time. The months where you feel isolated. You are eating beans, rice, and whatever moldy vegetables you can find in the back of your cabinet. The days spent crying in bed. 

Crying out to a God who you can’t hear. 

Crying out for comfort. 

Crying out for guidance.

Just crying out for a hug. 

He hears you. Oh pilgrim, he hears you. You are now wandering through a land that is not your own. You can count your belongings on your right hand. You can count your supporters on the other. You may be discouraged like you never thought possible. 

He hears you.

He hears you when you cry out in the night. So isolated because this language is not your own, and you have trouble even trying to buy a cup of coffee. So alone because you can’t seem to connect with the very people paired up to journey with you into the barren land. So afraid because the book you hold in your hand isn’t giving you the comfort and joy it once imparted. 

He hears you.

He loves you, my wonderful friend, He loves you more than you can imagine. Every day his heart bleeds tears for your sorrow. He is trying to speak to you. He is sending his message to You.

I love you dear one. I hear you, and I see you. 

So you wake up every morning. You thank Him for small victories. The car started. The bus ran on time. Your team prayed together. You hugged through the tears. You walk forward. Your head held high with the knowledge of love. With the intention of sharing, of loving, of giving, of serving, of praying, and of preaching. You thank our Father for his grace, and you keep going.

He hears you.

He loves you.

-Lydia Mulligan (Weatherly) 

West Mains, Scotland AIM 2005

Catching Up

Before writing this, I took a minute to just sit… and breathe. I’d like to invite you to do the same. Just take one moment to take in a deep breath… and let it out.

A lot of us can relate to feeling too busy. All of us have heard sermons of various kinds telling us that we need to set aside time to spend alone, to pray, to meditate, to read. Similarly, we have all heard “shoulda/coulda/woulda” stories from older men and women that we need to spend more quality time with our families and friends. We all struggle through knowing whether or not to dedicate time to this or that activity, to volunteer with this or that group, or to teach this or that class. Most of us know what’s most important to us, but then there are also bills to pay and houses to clean and food to prepare and everything else in the world to take care of. 

I certainly don’t have the answer for these predicaments, but I would like to address at least one aspect of the issue – do you sometimes feel like you’re behind? Like if somehow you can take the maximum hours in school that you’ll make up for the fact that you’ve been living abroad for a couple of years? Whether you’re going through Sunset or a university or cosmetology school or just working up the ladder, are you rushing through this phase so you can “catch up”? Do you even know what would it look like to be caught up? 

Does the end goal matter more than the way we get there? The Bible is replete with examples of patience and encouragements to live now. If we are looking to the future, it’s with the mindset of heaven being our home. I would like to encourage all of us to be grateful for the experiences we’ve had, even if they were really trying, and to be content with what God has for us in this moment. If that’s proving impossible, maybe it’s a sign that God wants you somewhere else. But before you decide one way or the other, make sure you talk with God about it, and with others you trust. If our whole lives are about what’s coming next, well, we’re not guaranteed anything but today, so let’s dedicate ourselves to making life count regardless of whether we’re married yet or have a degree yet or have a career yet or have a mission team yet. 

God wants our lives now. And if that feels like a burden instead of a blessing, I would challenge us to take a look at our lives and think of one thing we could drop. It could be the tiniest thing that’s sucking out that last bit of energy from our day. Remember, God is omnipotent, not us, and he will equip us to do every good thing we’re called to do. Rest in that promise, and let yourself be a little less busy today.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." - 2 Corinthians 3:17

-Brettin White

 Tlalpan, Mexico 
 AIM 2007

Revolution Today

If I could do one revolutionary act today                                    

... I'd listen

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I'd give my possessions and my friendship

If I could do one revolutionary act today  

... I would mind the gap between household and nation  

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I'd give my lovingkindness one more time to 'the                    

    undeserving'

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I would love those who love me

... I would love those who don't love me well

... I would love those who don't love me at all

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I would close my lips to argument

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I would give my lunch to one waiting on a paycheck

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I would work an extra shift so someone could travel the world

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I'd give my patience to that one annoying person

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I would encourage those who encourage

If I could do one revolutionary act today

... I would ask my neighbor 'how are you eating?'

 If I were the revolution today

... I would be the peace meal of a slain people, shared between the survivors and the killers    in places like Rwanda, in Israel/Palestine and in the Americas

 If I were the revolution today

 ... I would be the extended hand, no matter how different

 If I were the revolution today

 ... hanging in bedrooms of palaces and white houses of power I'd be the dreamcatcher  retelling the nightmares of suffering in labor camps, sweatshops, prisons, deserted places of empire and the ghettos of wealth

 If I were the revolution today

 ... I'd be the change of mind in the deathdealer to give living a second try

 If I were the revolution today

 ... I'd be the renovated structure of sex trafficking and drug peddling turned organism of food gardens and no cost housing where 'the haves' and 'the have nots' find a                              common rhythm to live by

If I were the revolution today

... I'd be the pulse of the doctor who practices medicine among those who will never be able to pay the bill

If I were the revolution today

... I'd be the better world maker's thoughts spray painted in the sky so empires won't crush their heart with a dream no one can afford

Today

... someone will forgive regardless of the wrongdoing

... someone will leave a soon to be dead life behind for a resurrected now

... an unwanted child will be taken from the trashlands and raised to birth love

... a peacemaker will leave a fresh change of heart for an angry mob to clothe their nakedness with

... someone will lay down the way of the gun for the fruits of the Spirit

... a household will harbor refugees

... a family will have enough food to share with their hungry neighbor

... an addict will be released from their chains

... someone will throw a birthday party for a prostitute

... prisoners will bless a cruel guard

... someone will sing jubilantly of another world ripening in the face of the emperor's sickle

... an aged and dying person will be cared for and instilled with dignity until their last exhale

... a hopeless leader will see a way of peace and hope thriving in the lives of obscure and 

    weak people

-Leland Grammar
 San Diego, USA 
 AIM 2005

A Fork in the Road

           What is God doing? What does God want?  Questions I have asked often in the last two years.  There are so many ways to describe AIM to someone.  My personal favorite is “an emotion, spiritual, and physical at times rollercoaster”, but something I would never change. It has been a journey, but I think I’ve learned a lot about how to answer these questions in a healthy way. I don’t believe that I could ever say I fully know what God is doing, but I always know that He is working. I don’t believe I could fully know what God wants, but I know that He wants for us to know Him more, and be happy doing that.

            I never have been good at making big decisions; I always wonder if what I have decided is what God wants. I have started to learn in understanding God’s love for me—that in the decisions that I make, God does want me to be blessed. The biggest decision that I had to make recently was where I wanted to be after my field time. My options were California or Texas. I went back and forth for the longest time about where I wanted to be, the answer was both, but as we all know I can’t be in both places at once. I was then reminded that it doesn’t matter where I choose to be because God is always working. I struggled with that for a long time, remembering that God may give me two different paths that I can choose from, but He isn’t going to bless me in one and not bless me in another. I find that the only time I won’t see God using me, is when I don’t let Him use me. I constantly need to remember that God is showing us things throughout the day that I can be doing for Him. Sometimes, I’m just not looking.

            As of this last week I have had to remind myself once again of all this, also remembering I may choose something and God may change that up a little to work in different ways. As I said before I had this big decision on where I was going to go after the field. I chose to go to Grass Valley, California because it just seemed to be working out and that God was just putting more open doors there (pretty cool thing to see God was helping me out). But, throughout this last week God has changed that and has blessed me more through this process. I am now moving to Auburn, California where I will be able to live and work in the fields that I wanted to before, but couldn’t. But there are also so many ministry opportunities here. I have seen God just change around plans, but open up ways that I can choose to give myself to Him and let Him use me.

            I thank God for the times that He has given me and the things that He has allowed in my journey with Him. I don’t look back and regret anything, because He is the one guiding me. I thank God for the choices He gives me, but I also thank Him for changing those around when needed.

            I encourage you all to make choices based on what you love to do. I encourage you to choose to walk with God in each of those choices that you make, because if you are looking towards Him, He WILL use you. 


-Jeni Bandanza
 Leon, Mexico 
 AIM 2009

Inadequate in Ministry

What do you do when it doesn't feel like you can do anything right? 

I know that coming back from the AIM mission field, that's an easy thought pattern to slip into. When I shifted fields from Boston to Wichita Falls, TX, back in '93, in order to do a youth ministry internship with my home congregation, several times I got caught up in situations that left me feeling like I couldn't do anything right. In fact, at one point I even said that I would never get into youth ministry.

I think, in my case at least, we get fooled into thinking that we're supposed to be able to do things on our own. 

By the time we leave our mission fields, a lot of you have had to learn a whole new language to survive, and you leave having this fluency that you never would have imagined you could. We left behind a college Bible study and a small group of teens that had grown closer together. It's easy to look back on that as we board the plane or train, or dare I say, automobile, and think, "I did all that."

And it's a trap.

Some of you will have heard a guy named Randy Harris speak before. One time I heard him speak at an event about his mantra that he repeats to himself every morning. I like it so much that I took his mantra, put the Scriptures with it that he referenced, and printed it to put up in my office.

The first part of this mantra says, "Today I will be incompetent." 

The Bible verse that is the basis for his statement is 2 Corinthians 3:5: "Not that we are competent to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God." I love to read that each day when I come in my office, because I tend toward pride. It reminds me that I'm a bumbling idiot left to my own devices, but when this bumbling idiot gets in God's way and lets Him push him around, amazing things can happen. 

So what do you do when it doesn't feel like you can do anything right? Remember that you're correct. All you need to do is keep making your mistakes in the path of God, and He'll be the Adequate One for you.

When have you felt inadequate to work for God?

- Donovan Fox 

Refreshing the Saints

I love food--good tasting food, anyway. I love how flavors come together to create a delectable treat that fills me up and makes me warm and happy inside. I guess that’s why some foods are called refreshments.

There’s nothing like the refreshing taste of a vanilla Dr. Pepper. (or insert your refreshment of choice here) Maybe for you it’s a cup of coffee. A glass of coke without ice. A sip of tea. Or a tall drink of clean, clear water that satisfies the body’s craving for life.

Water is the life-source for all living things—physically speaking, of course. When I don’t drink enough water during the week, each sip I do take is like life to my soul. It tastes so good, that I want more! And yet, I often go for the Dr. Pepper or coffee before I reach for the water. And my body suffers the consequences of my choices—headaches, dehydration, lack of energy.

What is refreshing to you? I mean, spiritually refreshing. What does refreshing even mean?

Re means to do again—to bring [something] back.

Fresh means, ripe, not old, not stale—at its best.

So to refresh means to bring something back to the state at which it is at its best.

I must admit, I’m not always at my best. I love vanilla Dr. Pepper—with extra vanilla, please, and light on the ice. Maybe a little coffee with my french vanilla creamer. But that doesn’t mean it’s good for me. The sweet taste of it sure makes me feel re-energized for a time—then it’s gone. And I have to suffer the sugar/caffeine crash or get some more. But I never have side effects from refreshing water.

What spiritually refreshes you? What fills your cup? What brings you back to your best?

“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. “

-Philemon 4-7 ESV

"Refresh" in the Greek in this context means to give rest, that is to permit one to cease from any movement or labor in order to recover and collect his strength.

I wonder what Philemon did that was so refreshing to others. Yes, there was something about his love and of the faith he had towards Jesus and all the saints, but what did that look like in his everyday life? Whatever it was, I reckon those saints told other people about Philemon’s actions and somehow word got back to Paul—not just about one saint, but many. Philemon took the opportunity to give rest to others—many others. They told others about his godly characteristics that made them feel like they were back at their best again with renewed strength. And Paul was thankful to God for Philemon’s refreshing heart towards others. Philemon's refreshing actions gave comfort and joy to Paul.

Refreshing. Like a good friend who still loves you when you’re at you’re worst and can still inspire you to be your best.

Do you have a friend like that who refreshes others? One who makes others feel at rest that they may grow in spiritual strength?

Are you that friend who does the refreshing? I don’t know that I’m that friend. I’d like to think so at times that I am that refreshing friend. And hope so at others. And well, I’m such an introvert that being around lot of people constantly often drains the energy out of me, and so I’m often in need of being refreshed.

But I do have a friend who refreshes me. We’ve known each other for many years. We didn’t grow up together. We were never neighbors. We didn’t go to school together. Our families didn’t know each other. Neither one of us were believers even when we met, so we didn’t go to church together. We’ve never even lived in the same town. Ever.

We were pen pals. Yep, we used to write old fashioned letters to each other every week. We started writing when we were 12, met at age 13 and we've been good friends ever since. As adults, we've gotten to see each other at least once a year. I feel like whenever we’re together in the same room that no time has passed since we were together last. And we never went to AIM together. But she loves God like those AIM Alumni I've come to know and love over the years!

We both became believers later on in life and have had many a great spiritual conversation together since then.

When she and I get together, there’s just something about being with her that refreshes me—that brings me back to my best at who I am in God—that gives me strength to keep on pressing on. Oh, I’m not perfect when I’m with her, but I’m back in love with God and am excited about Him. My mind seems clearer when discussing scriptures, Bible concepts and principles. I have comfort and joy again.

I feel excited about being a Jesus follower—again.

Being around her brings me peace. There’s no pressure to do or be anything other than who I am when I’m around her. I can sleep in if I’m staying at her house. I can bring homemade turkey broth to make soup. I can bring half-baked sourdough bread and we can laugh together about how awful it tastes! And eat it anyways! And be an ear to listen and a hand to hold during the tough times. And bring God into the conversation at every turn.

Whenever I’m feeling stressed, uneasy, or there’s a war raging within, I love going to her place and just being.

We can talk about our great and wonderful God in the midst of our struggles.

What is it about her that makes me feel so refreshed when I’m around her? I think it has to do with her love for God and how she lives that out in her daily life serving God and her family. She is patient, kind, loving, merciful, grace giving, generous, servant-hearted, thoughtful—a true Christ-follower. She’s not perfect either. But she is someone who inspires me to be more like Jesus because of the way she lives her life for Him. And there’s a peace that floods my soul when I’m around her. I don’t know what that is, or how it works or why that happens. It just does.

Everytime.

I always leave her place feeling like I’ve just been with God— whether I’m stopping by to only spend an hour with her as I’m passing through town or coming to visit for a week.

I don’t know what I give to her in our friendship. I hope it’s something good. And I pray that whatever it is I can do for her that it’s refreshing to her soul, too.

And friends who aren't spiritually refreshing are just like that vanilla Dr. Pepper that’s tasty but not good for you. They may be “fun for you”, but not good for you. You may get some benefits from the friendship, but the long term consequences might be harmful rather than be refreshing. Not to say you should have friends just to receive benefits.

But are your friends dragging you down spiritually or when you leave their presence do you feel like you’re just been with God and refreshed heart and soul?

I pray to our God for you, dear reader, for friends who spiritually strengthen you and that you are the friend who refreshes others. Bring out the best in them to the glory of God. And be that kind of refreshment to others. You never know what God will do through you!

“For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

-Jewel Melton

 Zapresic, Croatia

 AIM 2002