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Sometimes, there’s just a resounding theme in life. Everything will just kind of point to one, particular lesson that God wants to pound home. Right now, that theme for me is to Be All Here.

It hasn’t been a secret that I’ve had a tough time adjusting back to the States and being content living here. Yes, God pulled us out of Peru and yes, we are confident that we should be here and yes, we are at peace in the ministries we have and the life we are living. But, after spending most of my growing up years thinking I would be a missionary overseas and then I came back after just a few short years, in many ways, I have felt like a failure.

[Just to be bluntly honest.]

I have struggled with being all here. I have spent a lot of time thinking about Peru and wondering what was happening there and almost feeling guilty for leaving, yet knowing that was irrational and not from the Lord. I compared everything to South America at least in my mind even if I never verbalized a thing.

And then, a couple little kids walked into our Wednesday night program a few weeks ago. Their background is horrid; I really can’t even share it online. The things they are living through at this moment are unimaginable. No child should ever experience the life they are living right now.

I have always been a fan of “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath; I’ve even written about it before. Normally, when I hear this song, I picture being on the plane, landing in either Montreal or Lima, and seeing the city laid out before me. My heart just aches for the lost children in these cities. A couple weeks ago, though, as I was listening to this song on the radio on my way into the office, the picture in my mind was not these giant, sprawling cities. It was these two little kids with the saddest eyes I think I have ever seen.

It hit me then: I need to Be All Here. These kids have one of the worst back stories that I have ever heard, here in the States or overseas. They are right here. They’re not in some exotic, foreign country; they’re down the street from our church. They’re not slum kids in South America; they’re suburban children from Pennsylvania.

This week, we were representing our board at a missions conference and the speaker was Paul Borthwick. He was phenomenal to listen to and I hope the college kids took full advantage of this opportunity to hear him. But one of the things he kept bringing out was the fact that the “world” is right around the corner in our neighborhood anymore. He made the statement, “Since we wouldn’t go to the world, God brought the world to us!”

He kept bringing out how we can reach the world through reaching out to our communities here in the States and it just kept bringing home to me the fact that I need to Be All Here.

I don’t need to be overseas to be used by God. I don’t need to be in a third world country to reach children who are utterly hopeless and lost. I need to be wherever in the world God has planted me now. He doesn’t need to use me, but He chooses to, so I need to let Him and I need to do what He has asked me to do!

So, here’s my commitment to Be All Here. To love the kids in my life Here as much as I loved the ones in my life There. To serve the Lord whole heartedly where He has me. All Here.