So last night I’m sleeping peacefully when suddenly I hear our neighbor’s dog doing that bark like a dripping faucet. 

You know the kind, “Bark…………..bark………..bark”.  Usually that would be very annoying.  I looked at my clock; it was 3 in the morning.  Now it had gone from annoying to just wrong.  That fog of “What is happening?” set in.  The self righteous, “Can’t they hear that?”  “What are they thinking?”  You name it; it raced through my mind.  Long story short, after an hour of this barking, my husband and I were pretty ready to take care of the situation. 

We had to be careful here, though.  As frustrated as we were, we had to choose our path wisely.  These people are our neighbors, our mission field.  They know we know the Lord.  Our Christian witness was at stake with our reaction to this situation, no matter how tired we were.  Long story short, as they say, it turned out they weren’t home.  I guess their dog had gotten out of the backyard.

This brings up a very good point, though.  We all have our own mission field.  The Lord has given you a very definite sphere of influence in which to tell and show others what it means to follow Him.  If you are in school, that’s part of it.  Any activities?  That’s it, too.  Family?  Yes.  Do you have a job?  You guessed it: Welcome to your mission field!    Even your bus stop is your mission field.  And being a missionary is not always easy, is it?  That’s why the Lord is ready and waiting to talk through you to them.  Just ask Him to help you. 

That’s what we did in our barking dog situation last night.  I’m happy to report the dog finally fell asleep around 5 or so and we didn’t ruin our Christian witness in the meantime.  The thing to remember is that the Lord absolutely 100% loves everyone in your mission field.  He wants them all to know Him and how much He loves them.  And, He has chosen you, yes you, to be one of the people to show them what it is like to be a child of God. 

So, fellow missionary, remember when you’re feeling the pressure, turn to the One who will pour His love through you to them.  He has enough of it to go around!