Confession: I Dislike "Reckless Love"

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The song Reckless Love bothers me. If you haven't heard it yet, let's pause so you can fix that:

From the first time I heard it, it's struck something in me the wrong way. I mean, I like the overall message of the song. Love it, actually. And the music itself is beautiful. It's a powerful song as a whole! But I hate that it uses the word "reckless".

According to Google, reckless means "without thought or caring about the consequences of an action". That's not God. God has put a lot of thought and care into his decision to come after us. That's what makes it so amazing! That's the reason this song is so powerful!

God worked out his redemption plan for us over hundreds of years. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, God was moving to redeem us. Down through Noah and Abraham, through Moses and the prophets, God was showing his love and setting up his master plan to defeat evil once and for all.

When Jesus was going to the cross as the fulfillment of that plan, he agonized over that decision. He pleaded with Father God to find a different way of saving us, to take the job off of him. Jesus knew the consequences of saving us: he was going to suffer beyond imagination, but he still willingly went to the cross. 

The love of God is indeed overwhelming and undeserved and never-ending, but it's not reckless. God's love is perfectly planned, well thought-out, and crazy (which is the word I substitute for reckless when I sing it). 

But "reckless" sounds better in a worship song than "crazy" I guess.

EDIT: Relentless! Relentless is the word I want to use in place of reckless! It's three days later and my brain finally gave me the word I was looking for. God's love is relentless for us, not reckless.

The Secret Life of Missions

I've been thinking a lot lately about Missions. In particular, Short Term Missions, the damage they cause, and if we can do better.

It's a lot, I know. My head is a fun place.

Here's the truth that most Christians don't like to think about, let alone acknowledge: Short Term Missions often do more harm than good. Think about it: how does spending tens of thousands of dollars to take teenagers to a "poor" country to do skits or construction help people? We can't even speak the language! Wouldn't it be more effective to send the money with a few skilled adults who could support the local leaders in a project they actually need and want? By paying local workers and suppliers a fair wage to build something that is truly needed and structurally sound?

It's time to get honest with ourselves: why do we take missions trips? 

Do we take short term missions trips for ourselves, or the people we're there to "serve"? Are we causing harm to the population we're going to? How do we tell their stories? Are they projects to fix and poster children for our blog, or intelligent and dignified people living their lives? How do we speak about their country to folks back home? And the kicker: is that country/city truly any different or improved after our visit?

These are tough questions, and I have more, and I don't really have answers yet. But I know that something about STMs needs to change. Don't get me wrong, I love missions (whatever that means)! I have been on several STM trips, and even have one scheduled for this summer. I'm not ready to throw out the whole thing. But that is precisely why I want to fix this thing we call missions.

Somewhere over the years we've twisted what the Great Commission is all about and made voluntourism a multimillion dollar industry. Can a short term missions trip accomplish good for all involved? Or are we just kidding ourselves and making everyone think we're super holy?

I'll be exploring all these themes over the next several weeks, and I hope you'll join me.

What are your experiences with missions: the good, the bad, or the ugly? Have you thought about the dark side of STM work? Is there a way to salvage STMs? Tell me your thoughts and let's explore this topic together!

Some resources that have started me on this thought journey:
- When Helping Hurts (book)
- The Very Worst Missionary (blog)
- The Failed Missionary (new podcast)

I'm Going to India!!

In case you missed the title up there...I'm going to India!

An internet friend posted recently that she had open spots for "folks who don't live in the Grand Rapids area" on an upcoming missions trip with WCSG Radio, so I applied. Because #missions and #India. Also because I've watched Ronne post about so many other trips over the past few years that didn't work out for me to join.

This time around, though, there was no reason to say no. When I asked for the time off, my boss actually said he's going to see about putting me in the employee newsletter and having the facility sponsor me! So once work was clear, that was it. See, God and I have a deal: I'll take action on any missions trip that comes my way unless I get a no from Him. No no's means it's a yes! And it's no coincidence that her post was just a few days after I put this random internet image on my vision board for the year:

So now, the details.
Right smack-dab in the middle of July I will be heading to the Kullu Valley of Northern India (right in the Himalayas!) with Orphan Outreach and WCSG Radio. Together we'll get to meet and love and play and learn with the children at DUF (House of Grace) Children's Home while they're on summer break.

A staggering statistic I just learned? 35,000,000 children in India are orphaned. THIRTY-FIVE MILLION. That's 9% of India's children! And that does not represent the insane number of homeless kids living on the streets! This trip is a chance to make a difference for a few of them, and I am so excited to meet them.

(How great is this logo?!)

I'd love for you to join me.
I would love for you to partner with me in prayer and funding. As with all of my missions trips, I am committed to paying for at least half of the trip from my own pocket, and raising support for the other half. If you would like to donate towards this love adventure, you can do so here by putting my name (Ashley Webster) in the participant line. For those curious, the trip code is IN18-07WCSG, but it's not required to make a donation.

Current prayer requests:
That God would prepare the team for the work of this trip, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. That he would instill us with wisdom and boldness, humbleness and grace. And, selfishly, that the temperature would be a little below average while we're there. 95 degrees is not this lady's ideal climate.

I am so so excited for this adventure! It will be my first missions trip where I don't know anyone on the team, and my first time to India! Have you been to India? What should I know?