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Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share a snapshot of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region.

I walked into the store, barraged with colorful notebooks of every type, highlighters and neon pencils. Backpacks hung above them, boasting Hello Kitty and race car themes.

I could have been at any Wal-Mart or Kroger in the U.S. during back-to-school season. Instead I was at my local grocery store here along the Silk Road. As I saw the displays, they hit me like a punch in the gut.

See, we’ve been experiencing a little unrest here. My city has been mostly untouched, but in other regions there is violence, bombing, and death. My local friends post online advocating for peace in their country. Our team goes over safety protocols, revising as the situation changes. Words like “civil war” and “evacuation” linger in the background, not necessary yet, but still there, waiting as a precaution.

Part of me just wants to withdraw. Whatever. Good riddance. If things get bad, I will just leave, and maybe it’s for the better. Life here is uncomfortable in many ways. If God is so powerful, He can deal with the outcome of whatever war may be on our doorstep. I will move back to America and enjoy my days among people I can speak with who look and think like me.

What Am I Here For?

Then a whisper comes. Live Dead. I hear it all the time, multiple times in a week, if not in a day. Will I let my desires go and submit to the desires God has? Instead of viewing this upheaval with annoyance, can I see these people with the love and compassion He has for them?

Danger may be coming, or it may fizzle out. Either way, when I moved here it was with the belief that keeping my life mattered less than answering God’s call. It was easy for me to romanticize that idea when I was sitting in a sanctuary in America with hundreds of people around me worshipping Jesus. Now I find myself clinging to anything I can to make myself more comfortable.

The people here can’t just pack up and leave when things get bad.

They keep going through life, buying their kids’ backpacks and hoping for the best.

Almost all do it without knowledge of the hope I hold onto: Jesus Christ. It’s why we came here in the first place.

Learning to Surrender

I have in no way graduated on the topic of dying to self, or living dead, however you want to put it. In some ways it feel like I haven’t even started classes yet. Sure, I moved to the Silk Road, and sometimes we act like if a person can do that, they’re done. But allowing God to transform us goes deeper than what country we live in or what our job title is.

No matter where I live, I have to surrender to Him, and trust Him to transform me from the selfish, fearful person I am into someone who loves Him and loves those who need Him.

It is a very slow process, but I hope I will learn. That someday instead of always asking “Why?” when I don’t understand what God is doing I will focus on other questions. How can I worship through this trial? Who is sufficient despite the storm? Who in this world needs help, needs the goodness of God’s kingdom to settle on their lives?

Or even that question that rings through the ages: “Who will go for us?”

My answer is the same now as it was when I was living comfortably in the U.S., but it sounds different.

It comes meekly, stained with tears, through a throat hoarse from kicking and screaming in protest.

It is filled with doubt, and fear, but still tinged with belief that there is a Sovereign greater than all those things, that has overcome the world and can overcome my weakness.

I am still learning to say: “Here I am Lord, send me.”

Please pray for our missionaries who are living along the Silk Road, sometimes in dangerous situations, and almost always in discomfort. Pray that instead of seeking to relieve that discomfort they would seek the Spirit of God, and that He would give them the perseverance and power to serve well.

Pray for peace in the countries along the Silk Road, that many would live to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

Pray about the questions you are asking God about life right now, and what He is asking you. Perhaps there are people around you today to whom God is sending you.

Or maybe, that person is waiting for you along the Silk Road.

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