Some of the greatest heroes and heroines of the church have been cross-cultural missionaries. Only heaven will reveal all the magnificent exploits of these wonderful people.

One of them said, 'I have but one candle of life to burn, and would rather burn it out where people are dying in darkness than in a land which is flooded with lights.'

Perhaps the greatest modern Christian 'missiologist' was Kenneth Scott Latourette. In his autobiography he tells about feeling a call to spread the Christian Good News in words that Rudyard Kipling used in a poem called 'The Explorer'. Latourette modified the words a bit for himself, but the call came to him 'as bad as conscience,' a call to love the whole mission of Christ through the ages.

This is how the call came: a voice spoke to him: 'Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look beyond the ranges. Something lost beyond the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go.'

And if God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king!

Lord, here I am, send me. Amen.