Life’s Lessons on the Mission Field – Part I

I wanted to share some personal thoughts from these 5 years the Lord has allowed us to be missionaries here in Argentina. The next few blogs I will be posting will be specifically addressing “Life’s Lessons on the Mission Field”.

This first lesson is the freshest on my mind as well as a very recent incident that happened. Just days ago, on Saturday, Mindy was in the hospital because of the loss of our baby. To make the story brief, she was bleeding a lot and if they would not have taken her to surgery, she could of died. Most of the nurses and hospital workers were on vacation and/or out of the office. It seemed that no one was attending us and Mindy was getting worse and worse. I began to pray with her and then in my heart, “Lord, please let her live, I need her, I will be different, please give her back to me.” This big scare that happened, brings me to my first “Life’s Lessons on the Mission Field” – the need of your spouse.

How many times have I been so wrapped up in work that I forgot about my precious wife. It took a “close to death” experience for me to wake up. We have talked since and realize how much time we have wasted over silly arguments and disagreements that make no sense. My stubbornness, not wanting to give in, etc has made me lose so much time of this short life with my wonderful wife. As Solomon explains in Song of Solomon 2:5, “the little foxes, that spoil the vines”. The little arguments, the little petty things in life that steal time and ruin relationships.

I counsel our young people in our church to not get married unless they can serve the Lord more as a couple than they could being single. But how often have I not taken my own advice. The Lord has given me a “help meet” one to not only accompany me, but to complete me. A precious jewel, a friend, a co-laborer to help me in the ministry. And together, as a team, we can do so much more for our Lord than being separate.

How foolish I have been many times ignoring my wife to try and “grow” the church, when the truth is that most of the people I have striven to get in church ends up leaving after a short time. It is not to say that my labor has been in vain with people, but I have found out that although many have used me in the ministry, my wife is always at home to love me and accept me.

To conclude this first lesson, I cry out to myself and many married couples on the mission field, “you can lose your ministry and still have your wife, but if you lose your wife, you will lose both ministry and wife”. Life is short to waste it not being in love. Maybe Romeo was not all that silly, maybe “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecc 4:12). So grab your wife by the hand and enjoy the time God has given you on the journey for Him.

2 Replies to “Life’s Lessons on the Mission Field – Part I”

  1. Very well put. I truly appreciate what your saying. My wife deals with a series of health problems and is uanble to do all that many preachers wives do in the background. Sad thing is she is expected to do it by most of us with out a word of thanks or realization of how important her role is. Love her unconditionally as your WIFE not business partner and the rewards are immeasurable. Thank you for your transparency and the reminder to Love tem as Christ loves the church and gave himself for it.

    Pastor Dave Bueckert
    Church planter
    Price Edward Island Canada

Leave a Reply to Jeffrey Bush Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *