What is the first thing we should expect when we decide to obey God?

Although most cannot literally relate to Peter taking a step outside the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, many can metaphorically understand his dilemma. We want to take a leap of faith or dare an impossible task.  We want to walk on water. But we are also afraid of the winds that blow.

And since we are not literally in a boat, we shouldn’t expect physical wind.  But we also shouldn’t be surprised when we experience obstacles to obedience as soon as we decide to follow God.

That’s exactly what happened to us when we agreed to participate on a surgical mission to Kenya in May 2021. We, Kenya Relief Team 10, experienced hardships. Forty-five days prior to our departure we were confronted with new COVID lockdowns being issued in 5 Kenyan counties, including Nairobi. Fifteen days prior to departure, the US State Department issued an alert regarding the increased risk of terrorists’ attacks in Kenya during Ramadan. Ten days prior to departure, Colonial Pipelines got hacked and threatened gasoline shortages and travel. After 24 hours of travel to Kenya, six members of our team got stopped by Customs for further questioning and inspection. The next day our surgeons and Kenyan drivers had to push our broken-down Landcruiser off a Kenyan highway.

Jesus never said it was going to be easy.

The winds tell us if we get out of the boat, we will drown. We will test positive for COVID the day of our departure or, worse, test positive for COVID in Kenya.  Lockdowns will prevent our travel and our mission.  A terrorist attack will blow up our hotel or car.  A customs officer will interrogate us for hours, search us in places you should not mention, and throw us in a Kenyan jail.

If we’re not careful, we will be tempted to believe the reason we won’t follow God is because we’re concerned we may get stuck in Africa or stopped at customs. These are legitimate concerns, but they also distract from the root issue.

Most often, the reason we will not follow God is because we don’t believe God.

We don’t believe if we will lose our lives for Jesus, we will find life. (Matthew 16:25)  We struggle to reconcile the possibility of being interrogated or thrown into a Kenyan jail with producing life.  How does spending lots of money to work for free in an unfamiliar environment sound like a good idea?

We have two options.  Believe our legitimate concerns with a rational mind or believe God.

If we can learn to believe God and to anticipate and overcome obstacles to obedience, we will experience His promise.  We will find life.  It’s as much counter-intuitive as counter-cultural.  But true. (And you’ll need to continue reading posts in June in July to fully appreciate this truth. )

But the first lesson God wants to remind us of is if we dare to believe God and say yes to Him we should:

Expect the wind.