Unlikely Missionary

I am reading a book by Max Lucado called Cast of Characters (the one he autographed), about different ordinary people in the Bible who were used by our extraordinary God. I read a chapter this week about the Samaritan woman who came to the well to get water and met Jesus. Before when I’ve read this story, I’ve always thought the story was about how meeting Jesus changed her life. And it did- she felt loved and cared for more than she had probably all of her life. But reading the story and Max Lucado’s comments, I saw for the first time the impact that she had on the people of her city. After her Jesus-encounter, the woman went back to her town and started telling people what had happened to her, and people paid attention.

John 4:39-42 (The Message) Many of the Samaritan’s from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!”

Even though I feel like God is calling me to be a missionary, most of the time I don’t feel very qualified. I’m not outgoing, super-talented, creative, good at learning languages, or evangelistic like so many of the missionaries in our organization. I’m not trained as a doctor or teacher or pastor, what your “typical” missionary has training in. But the Samaritan woman was just a woman, with even a not-so-great past, and she was influential in many people coming to Christ. I hope that I can be as passionate about sharing Jesus and what He has done in my life as the Samaritan woman was.