As I have been preparing for my trip to Uganda and now embark on the long journey across the ocean, I find myself thinking about my motivation for this trip. This process involves a series of questions:

Why am I going?
Should I be going?
What is my purpose?
How can I be most effective?

I do not claim to have the right or only answers to these questions. Truthfully, my answers have changed quite a bit over the years. I think these changes come from experience, maturity, and situational influences. Every trip is different, and therefore, the motivations and purposes are different as well.

For example, I have gone on trips where the purpose has been an emergent health crisis (i.e. Cholera outbreak in Haiti post earthquake.). Other trips have been motivated by introducing my son to international missions (i.e. my wife and I took our son Jax to serve in a malnutrition center in Guatemala.)

That being said, I do believe there to be some overarching motivations that apply to all my trips. I’d like to share with you three I’m thinking about heading into this trip.

The first motivation is this: we get only one “trip around the block” so to speak. I believe this fact should motivate us to make our trip count. To build a legacy that impacts the world. To contribute beyond ourselves in a way that brings hope to the hopeless, relief to those in distress, and help to those in need. John Keith put it this way:

“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.”

The second motivation is the knowledge there are many needs in the world, both locally and internationally. And to do nothing about those needs is simply unacceptable. Perhaps one doesn’t have the desire, means, or ability to serve internationally. To them I would say this: If you can’t go, send. But, also find a way to serve locally. Please don’t choose to stop at awareness or even sympathy.

“Sympathy is no substitute for action.” – David Livingston

My final motivation is there is more to missions than meeting physical needs. There is more to it than empowering others physically, financially, and emotionally. As a Christian, I believe there is a spiritual aspect that transcends the physical needs. I would even venture to say that not meeting the spiritual needs of people makes meeting just physical needs meaningless.

One of the beautiful synergies I have experienced in missions is there is no better way to speak into the spiritual needs of a person than through meeting their physical needs. Communicating to someone that it is the love of Christ and what He has done for me that compels me to serve them, help them, and love them is very powerful.

Serving others, whether internationally or locally, is where I want to be. I love having fun, relaxing, eating good food, and having a good drink. I love spending time with my family and experiencing new, exciting things. But, at the end of the day, it is serving others that gets my juices flowing the most. It is extending myself outside of my comfort zone and contributing beyond myself that truly motivates me. In this, I believe I can relate to what C.T. Stud meant when he said:

“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.”

Find your purpose. Turn your sympathies into action. Meet needs by contributing beyond yourself. Live your legacy.

Because legacies matter.