What do you get when you put four veterinarians, their spouses, and kiddos together in one place? A great meal, lots of laughs, and conversation that ranges from breeding horses to selling all your possessions to move overseas and serve the poor. Last Saturday, we had some of my favorite people over to catch up on where God's leading our families in His journey for His glory, and after five hours I kinda wished we had cushions for our dining room chairs, as the conversation was so captivating that people barely got up to refill their drinks. Officially, we'd be called a Local Ministry Group, unofficially we're just vets with a lot in common; a love for Christ and a passion to share Him with the world.
More than ten years ago, one of these couples lead my community group in vet school, and mentored me more than they'll ever know. Another of these vets heard I was coming home from Bolivia last summer and looked me up. All of them made it to Christian Veterinary Mission's Shortcourse last August in Kansas City to learn more about longterm missions. And now we're all back within an hour from Louisville getting together every couple months to encourage each other and share.
If all of them follow God's tugging on their hearts to move to Africa as veterinary missionaries, it will leave some empty chairs at our dinner table, but I'll be thankful for the challenge to fill those seats with new faces, because it will mean the Gospel's being taken to places like Kenya, Zambia, South Sudan, or maybe, if we can convince one of them that having the coldest capital city in the world isn't all bad; Mongolia.
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| The Psuedo-Candid Version |
I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I love my job! I'm so blessed to get to do ministry like this.
If you're a vet interested in the Local Ministry Group idea, let me know, we're starting them all over the U.S. Yours doesn't have to be full of families on the verge of moving across the world, ours just happens to be. All veterinarians have stories to share that would encourage others as you use your profession as ministry wherever God has you.
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