A few weeks ago in church, our Pastor gave us a great skiing example. I have been skiing just a couple of times, but that was over 25 years ago. I wiped out so badly that I never got on skis again. Anyway, our faith journey is like downhill skiing. The mountain is at your back and the scary downward slope is in front of you. The temptation is to lean into the mountain which appears to be the place of safety. When skiing, it is important to lean forward over your bent knees, leaning toward risk. When you lean forward in skiing, your center of gravity is such that you can now steer your skis. In our journey of faith, we need to lean into what appears to be risky or scary. By faith we lean toward the risk trusting God to steer us into the scary, unknown path. Leaning toward the mountain would be trusting in our own strength.
This example was helpful to me as I face some areas of risk in my own life. For those missionaries heading to their first field assignment, Member Partnership Development and preparing to go to their host country are certainly areas of risk.
For Ethnos360 missionaries preparing to go to their first field assignment, there is good news! They are not heading down the mountain by themselves. As Member Coaches, Tom and I are here to coach, encourage, and help our members to know where they are going. It might be a bumpy ride at times, but our missionaries will not be alone.