Continuing our Bucket List

 My Life Verse from the Bible has been Psalm 37:4- “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (NKJV) 

As a child, I looked at this verse selfishly and interpreted its meaning separately from the context of the surrounding verses and chapters. It was simply one of the verses I had memorized early in Sunday School, and I had latched onto it without much thought. As a child, I had my own desire for things that I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t really want any help from God in making those decisions.

I sometimes hear people talk about completing a "bucket list" of things they want to do during their lifetime. It is understood to be a set of specific goals, dreams, or desires of things you want to live before you die or "kick the bucket".
As a follower of Christ, since my mid-teen years, I have realized the importance of allowing God to lead in my life. In essence, it meant that I would allow God to create in me a bucket list of things He wanted me to do. That meant that I would be willing to go anywhere He wanted me to go, and I would do whatever He wanted me to do. At a revival service altar call in Mount Vernon, Ohio at the age of 14, I said "Yes Lord, EVEN if it means becoming a missionary I want to do your will."

There's nothing wrong with setting goals for things we want to personally accomplish in life. The big challenge comes when we let these personal goals interfere with what God wants us to do. Angie's and my bucket list together in life has turned into marvelous anticipation of what next step God had planned for us. These steps have typically been counter-intuitive to my own way of thinking but God always has a perfect plan. His ways are always higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Becoming missionaries together meant letting God make His plans for us turn into our ideal bucket list. 

• As a child, I had dreamed of building homes for a career and of building my own earthly mansion someday. At the age of 25 years old, God called us to a farm school for underserved youth in eastern Honduras. What we experience at El Sembrador could never have been achieved by any human-inspired bucket list.
• Just when I was comfortable at El Sembrador, 20 years later, God called us to southern Honduras after the devastation of Hurricane Mitch to help with starting churches and developing educational opportunities for youth. Living in the city of Choluteca was not on my human bucket list. It's very hot there and the city has very crowded streets.
• Durnin our 20 years spent in ministry in Choluteca, Angie and I both obtained degrees at The Ohio State University. In addition to our formal learning at OSU, we made many valuable contacts at the university and build friendships that still continue to be part of the ministry in Honduras. Again, it was not a part of my own bucket list to go back to school. In fact, I only obtained my BS in Agriculture because I learned in 1975 that I could not be a missionary with WGM unless I had a degree from a university. 
• During our 20 years in Choluteca, we fell in love with the people, the city, and even the climate. Any bucket list of things I desired as a child would not have included pastoring the Shalom Church, helping start churches and schools, or living in the city. I truly thank God for allowing us to be part of such a fruitful ministry with such beautiful people. 
• Then, two years ago, we left Choluteca and came back to Ohio. Covid wat the trigger causing us to finish our ministry time in Honduras ahead of our own schedule. However, once again God had a few more things to add to our bucket list. We continue to be completely involved in ministry and work with a small group of WGM missionaries, the "Americas Team", who were all also in a period of transition and seeking God's will. Our role shifted from being directly involved in leading and evaluating individual projects in Honduras to a new role of supporting others who are leading WGM projects worldwide. Ange continues to work with the nursing school she helped start, works with the Choluteca scholarship program, and encourages those working with the 4-H outreach in Choluteca. I work setting up monitoring and evaluation programs for WGM's projects around the world. We learned to be content in what we are doing but had no idea of the magnitude of God's continuing plans for us. 

Last week, Angie was working on a possible schedule for us to visit some WGM's Southwest area ministries in New Mexico and Arizona. She got off the phone with one of our fellow missionaries and excitedly told me that if she ever had a bucket list, she would have this trip on it. We had been invited to attend the Easter sunrise service in one of the local churches. Easter sunrise services have long been a time of great spiritual impact on my life as I have reflected on what it means to be a part of the fellowship of believers who recognize that Jesus Christ conquered death once and forever.

While we have imperfectly followed God's will at times and have detoured occasionally sown our own path, God in His infinite wisdom has prepared things for us that we could never have imagined. My cup (bucket) is overflowing with His blessings (Psalm 23:5). The joy of serving the Lord could never be contained in my own bucket list.

Thank you, Lord Jesus

May each of you experience a Blessed Easter Season!