Today was the first full day of travel on the drive back to Calgary.
The team set out at 8:00am to travel from San Diego to Barstow, California for an early lunch. On the way to Barstow, we did our daily devotions, which challenged us to live so that we are not stumbling blocks for others.
After lunch we set off for St. George, Utah, where we are staying overnight. On this stretch of the drive, we returned to the next chapters of John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”, which challenges Christians to use our money to show that God is our treasure, not our possessions. We should be using our possessions to draw people to God, especially the most needy. Piper also clarifies that a small proportion of Christians will will become “frontier” missionaries who bring the Gospel to unreached groups, and the rest of us will work “secular” jobs (jobs not structurally connected to church). He argues that both types of vocations are needed - what is important is how you work and why, so he outlines ways we can magnify God at work.
We arrived at our hotel St. George, Utah at 4:30pm, where we had some free time before dinner. After dinner, we stopped to take in Red Hills Desert Garden before heading back to the hotel.
We ended the day with our daily debrief. We discussed how things like the music we listen to, the social media we consume, and our behaviour within romantic relationships, can be stumbling blocks for others. We also discussed how Christian lifestyle and behaviour should look different than non-Christians, and reflected on whether other people (classmates, coworkers, etc.) would be able to tell that we are a Christian. We ended with the reminder that no matter what our vocation is - pastor, missionary, student, doctor, lawyer, stay-at-home parent - we are to “…work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23)
We are grateful for another safe travel day and time for continued learning and reflection.
