Send Me – A Call to Rejoice in Hope Together

“Here am I. Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) I remember praying that in high school. I remember praying that in college. I remember praying that a decade ago. Yet for some reason, praying it last month hit differently.

I’m learning that being sent necessarily means leaving one place to go to another. I’m learning that being sent involves leaving a place of safety and security to go to the unknown and face the unexpected. Being sent means facing a very broken world and sharing the weight that they bear every single day.

I fear that in our attempts to greenhouse our children, we may inadvertently insulate them. In some ways, that’s certainly a positive. By homeschooling, we attempt to avoid the many negative influences that seek to persuade our children away from the Lord. However, in our doing so, I wonder how much we are also protecting them – and ourselves – from being sent.

It has been a staple in our family to prioritize involvement in our community. We focus heavily on building the body of Christ on Sundays, we are intentional about family worship and individual time in the Word, but we also put a serious emphasis on time outside the community of faith so that we can truly be salt and light in the world. How could we expect to share Jesus with the world if we don’t actually interact with those who don’t know him?

So for the last five years or so, my family and I have been involved with the local library board, the community center’s youth sports leagues, and even the corner coffee shop, all as a means of rubbing shoulders with people in order to bring Jesus to them. Every day, we pray by name for families and individuals in our community to come to saving knowledge of Christ. For as long as my kids can remember, our home has been open for hospitality to nearly everyone we meet.

But the lesson I am learning recently is not just what it means to add an extra place setting at the table or an extra name to the list of prayers, but how to bear the emotional weight of loving those who don’t know Jesus. My family is learning what sacrifice of heart looks like when we are sent. We are crying together because our friends don’t know the comfort and peace that only Jesus can bring. My children are experiencing the burden of lost souls and the reality of the estate of their salvation. Yes, they have been prepared and equipped for theological conversations, but I think we are learning together what it means to feel the anguish of the lost souls. We are standing with Paul who expresses his deepest sadness at the lostness of his people (Rom. 9:3). Our family is learning to sit in sadness because we have a hope that our friends in the community do not have.

It’s a new learning curve for us. It is giving us new appreciation for our salvation AND all the benefits that accompany such grace. We are trusting in the Lord for ourselves and pleading to Him on behalf of those we love. Being involved in the messy lives of the people around us has shed new light on the blessings God has given us and given us a true passion for sharing the Gospel. It has bred in us greater dependance on the Lord to do what only He can do – change lives.

Our family is not perfect, and we have so much room to grow in so many ways. But I can’t help but wonder how many of these lessons we only learn because we are involved in the community. I can’t help but consider how many people are missing out on the beauty and hardship and exhaustion of bearing the burden of those who can’t bear it for themselves. Homeschoolers often have unique opportunities in their timing and placement. They can be at places and involved in things that their fellow Christians just don’t have access to because of their life circumstances. How are we using those opportunities well? Are we so concerned with protecting our children that we forget to give them opportunities to share the Gospel? I am by no means advocating that you put your children in harm’s way, but I am suggesting that they will never grow in being carriers of the Good News until they are given opportunity to bring it to places and people that only know bad news.

As we consider the summer and what it means to rejoice in hope, may we be intentional about finding those who have no hope in order to give them a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Pet. 3:15) as we respond to the call of the Lord to be sent out.