Land Mines?!

I was talking with Greg right before my Biblical Theology of Missions class was to begin . . . after teaching the class I wanted to ride the good ole' Carrera on some of the Croatian roads and trails. As he was telling me where to go, I noticed that he said "stay on the road/sidewalk about three times, I held up my hand for a time-out sign! "Why do you keep telling me to stay on the road and sidewalk? I asked. "Because there are still lots of land mines out there and the only way to avoid them of course is stay on the road and sidewalk" was his answer!

Well needless to say, I can think of a few hundred other ways to avoid land mines, like a vacation in the Bahamas, teaching at a seminary in Tahiti instead of the former Yugoslavia, but I said nothing and shook my head yes. And I did stay on the road/sidewalks and I yet live to write this blog. But Greg was not joking . . . there are signs everywhere along the direction that I was riding today, warning the person who values all their limbs and very life to stay on the road! There were even mines underwater in one place! And when I got to the turn-around point in my trip, there was a group of people de-mining right beside the path I was riding on!! Yikes.

Interestingly enough we talked about some serious spiritual land mines in class today . . . the exclusivity of Christ, the lostness of man and hell. The dialogue was great in class, although we kept flipping between a number of different languages . . . we communicated that these are both the reasons and often the stumbling blocks of missions. Most of all today I just wanted them to start forming their own biblical theology of missions. Me giving them one is rather pointless in my opinion . . . they will forget it within an hour of the final exam. But if they get God's point of view for themselves, then it might change their lives. I can only hope.