One of the reality checks that really can mess with your head when you get into a missions situation is time management. Many times you don't have an office to go to with a team/staff around you. That means that your day looks a bit different.

You may be standing in line to pay the light bill at 10:00, meeting a local pastor for lunch at 12:00, working on a bible study/sermon/teaching guide at 2:00, and picking up the kids from school at 4:00.

Where did that day go?????

Well, when that reality check hits you, be ready with a plan. Do some thinking ahead on your schedule. Make sure that your time matches up with your goals and objectives. Also, make sure you have an accountability partner that is holding you to the goals you have set.

With so much to do for the Kingdom, lets not let this reality check overwhelm us.

Listen to the Missional Hands Podcast. 

We live in a wacky world. Half the time we are promoting diversity and the other half we are talking about a global youth culture. We tolerate everything but in the next breath we expect same-ness.

It is probably something that we need to live with in dynamic tension. We are called to love every person for who they are and at the same time we realize that in a global media-saturated world we are becoming more and more alike.

So what does this mean for our missional hands????

It means that you will hit a wall of sameness. During your initial experiences you will see a lot of things in common. Then the wall comes and you realize that different cultures really do think differently.

This isn't bad. You need to be studying the culture you are in and understanding how it is similar to your own and how it is different. This is a key part of good missions - cross-cultural awareness.

So as you come up to that wall, embrace the sameness and the differences and enjoy this new experience!

Listen to this week's podcast here. 

When you experience being on mission with God, it can be pretty intense. You are out there connecting with people, serving food, doing work with kids, building homes, sharing your faith . . . and all in environments that you have never experienced.

That is huge in your life, but remember that your friends and family that are back at home haven't had any of those experiences. They might look at you with a bit of a blank stare and then move on to talk about the latest movie.

Don't get discouraged, one of your roles is to represent a missional life back home. You have to find creative and compelling ways to share with your friends and family what you saw, what you did, what God used to change you.

Yes, that is work, but it is worth it. Don't you want your experience to impact others.

Consider doing a few of these things to connect:

1. Write a blog while you are on your trip and encourage your friends to read it and be praying.

2. Upload your photos on Flickr, Picasa or YouTube and send it to your friends so that they can see you on mission.

3. Tell stories - don't just report what you did. Talk about people's lives.

4. Make it simple - don't write 5 page emails about your trip. Save the long stories for those deep personal conversations.

5. Make it fun. Don't over-spiritualize your conversation. Help those you love realize that anyone can be on mission with God - anyone.

Listen to the podcast on this subject here. 

Walls are symbolic aren't they?

You think of a wall and you think of many different word pictures. You might think about protection or maybe about obstacles.

Whatever you think about, one thing is basic. A wall stops you in your tracks. That is the way it is as your missional hands begin their work. You are going along working, connecting, learning and then it hits you! All of a sudden you are overwhelmed with the change, the learning curve and the reality that you are different.

When this reality check hits you, don't worry. Just stop and pray. At this moment you realize that in your own strength you can't make it. You can't be the missionary that you want to be. That is the moment to rely on Christ and ask for his comfort and protection.

There is ministry beyond the wall! 

Listen to the Missional Hands Podcast about the Wall. 

Many times we get that feeling from reading the books and hearing the stories. We see these incredible people of faith who can do no wrong.

Well, give yourself about 10 minutes on the ground in any part of the world and you will realize that there are no superhumans in missions.

So what gives?

Well, it is simple. Missionaries need their coffee in the morning like everyone else, but when you are telling  a story in a church or in a missions magazine, you don't fill in those details. You hit the high points - its a natural thing.

So as you get into your missional experience and your hands meet up with regular missionaries, remember that they are people like you with good days and bad days. Show grace, love each other and expect human nature to happen.

The key is how your missional hands will respond to the realities of our world.

Listen to the podcast on this reality check. 

Reality Check #1

How many of you have traveled to another country and ended up eating your first meal at McDonalds, Taco Bell or (in Asia) Kenny Rogers Roasters?

It is a weird feeling isn't it. You prepare yourself to connect with a new culture and language just to find that they have many of the same brands that you consume each day.

But don't be lulled into complacancy. Just because a Taco Bell is on one corner doesn't mean that the next corner doesn't have a Buddist Temple.

In our global world our challenge is to see past the global consumer brands and see people. Those people mostly have not grown up with Western brands. They have their own foods, ideas, customs and cultures.

By seeing past those surface things you have the opportunity to get to know what makes another culture really tick. That is what is important. As you do that you will be able to share your story and your faith. 

Part of having missional hands is dealing with the reality check of missions. Things happen . . . that's life. So the next few weeks we will be talking about these reality checks and how our hands can prepare better for our missional experience.

Do you want to see the hands of missionaries in action? One of the new and exciting ways to do that is to view many missions videos online.

Check out the new MinistryTube Directory - a blog directory of missions/ministries on YouTube.

You can see missionaries in action and get a better idea of what it takes to do missions today. 

On the Podcast today we are talking about hands that are vitally connected with the SOURCE. What do we mean? It is hands that are linked in relationship to God.

If you as a missionary are linked to God in a growing relationship, then you will be equipped with the love and wisdom necessary to minister. Without that Paul says that our actions are no more than that.

So many missionaries look back on their service and ask, "Was that all there was?" What a tragedy!!!

Only as we are connected to God in a real way and living a life of love for others will real missions occur.

Are you connected to the SOURCE? What are you learning about how to love others through your missionary service? 

Living sacrificially is an incredible challenge.

In the podcast this week we talk about the fact that our culture today doesn't value or promote anything but fulfilling our dreams.

So the idea that I have to come to missions openhanded is a strange one. What does that mean? Well, it means that when you get to your place of ministry, you have to be ready for what God will ask you to do. It might be exactly as you pictured it . . . but take it from me, it usually isn't.

Instead you need to be ready to sacrifice your preconcieved ideas of what your ministry impact will be and allow God to guide you and direct you.

That doesn't mean you don't plan or follow through on what you have said you are going to do. But it does mean that you always need to run your plans and your aims through a spiritual filter and confirm what God might want you to be doing for HIS KINGDOM.

How have you sacrificed for God's Kingdom?