Short-term mission trip

"We're on a short-term mission trip."

Our Sunday School teacher made this statement yesterday at church. It stuck with me and I've been pondering it since then. His point was that in the grand scheme of eternity (which is how we, as Christians, should think about things), our lives are pretty short. Some might say meaningless. I wouldn't go that far personally.

We're on a short-term mission trip here on Earth. I've been on several short-term mission trips, so I relate to this. When you're on a short-term mission trip, you make decisions differently. Everything about what you're doing is focused on why you're there, whether it's to build a church or house, or to form relationships to share Christ. So I've been thinking. Is my life totally focused on why I'm here? Most of the time it probably isn't.

I guess first you have to answer the question, "Why am I here?" I think for me, right now, one of the main reasons I'm here is to raise Cade. Obviously, there are the church-y answers like, "to love Jesus" and "to tell others about Jesus." And those are true, too. But as a parent, I've been told to train my child in the way he should go, so that when he is old, he will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6). So that's what I'm trying to do. Not always successful. Trying.

But it helps me to think about life like this:
We're on a short-term mission trip. It won't last very long, so we better make the most of the time we have.