Lottie Moon

I am still back at Matthew 8:20 and have been stuck thinking about it. It is where Jesus tells someone who wishes to follow him that :

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Jesus was homeless. He intentionally left behind comfort, convienience, safety, security and family and so many of the things that we in North America spend our time persuing. What would it look like if more of his followers were willing to follow his example? These thoughts are once again brought to mind as I have been reading a short biography of Lottie Moon. This time of year, Southern Baptist churches collect an annual Lottie Moon Christmas offering for international missions. It is named after Charlotte (Lottie) Moon, a missionary to China from 1873 until her death on Christmas Eve 1912. At one time the "most educated woman in the South," Lottie would be one of the first single woman to serve as a missionary overseas and she would go on to give her life wholeheartedly and sacrificially to her mission in China. As well as her mission in China, however, she was also instrumental in sharing with those back in her home country of the United states the need for missions, missionaries and support, for sharing the true nature of missions and the true cost and conditions for those serving on the mission field. It was Lottie's persistence and tenacity as well as her incredible example that would lead to many policy, procedure and program changes that would improve the situations of those sacrificially giving of themselves for the sake of the Kingdom. Lottie reminds me, however, that no matter how many improvements we might make, that truly serving Christ and working for the sake of His kingdom is not easy. Kingdom and comfort are not compatible.
Am I more concerned with comfort than the Kingdom?
Do I pursue the American Dream (really the North American Dream) more passionately than my Christian Mission?
What can Lottie Moon teach us today?