Words from the Emcee: Attitude is Everything

On a missions trip, words like "me," "I," and "my" can be four-letter words.

In 2005, I went on my first missions trip to Venezuela. When I signed up for the trip, I thought it seemed like a good idea, but I quickly turned sour toward the experience when it came time to leave. I, between my sophomore and junior year of high school at the time, was a little too focused on how this trip was getting in the way of my time and my summer. So I got on the airplane with a bad attitude. At the end of the trip, I lamented wasting the first few days of my missions experience throwing a pity party, because I really did have an amazing time.

Tonight at the evening rally at Riverside, I found myself thinking back to that moment in my past, how it was so easy to ruin a missions opportunity with a bad attitude. I was very impressed and very proud of the BUMPers today, as it appears the large majority of them have it all in perspective.

It is downright tumultuous in the Twin Cities right now with the heat, and we packed 170 students into a church building. It was humid to say the least. So instead of succumbing to low energy and fatigue, chants were being thrown across the room. The wave started up. Someone played the roller coaster game. Their hearts are in the right place.

My challenge to EVERYONE involved with BUMP this week, not just the students, is to watch our attitudes. As the week drags on, we're going to focus more on ourselves. "I'm tired." "I'm hot." "My needs aren't being met." That's just human nature. For one week, we need to power through and fight that kind of thinking. When we begin to feel that way, we need to start thinking, "How can I encourage everyone around me?" Chances are they are feeling the same thing.

One last thought on the heat I had tonight: Jesus did a lot of his evangelism in the desert...and He fared pretty well, if you ask me.

Drink some water!
--Luke "L-Dub" Widbin