It's not too late to ...

The first formal session of our orientation started at 8am this morning! It was an introduction of the history and heritage of the organization and a welcome talk by the president. His main message to all the teachers was, and he kept emphasizing this, "It's not too late to run!" He also said that in all the past 5 years he has given this message, each time there were always people who should have run but did not. There were people who were not ready or right for the work in Asia, and it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble and money if they had taken his message seriously and called off their plans for Asia. Even though most of us are now all packed up and due to board our flight to Asia in 2 days, it is not too late to call it off at this point.

He gave us several examples of the wrong reasons to go serve in Asia, and then, taking from a text, he gave us the only one valid reason for our going to teach in Asia. Given all the difficulties and hardships each teacher will be facing overseas, all the work involved in sending a teacher out, it was good for each one to examine his/her heart one last time before stepping on that plane. I was sitting there wondering, "Should I run now.....? Am I among the ones who should be running now?..."

"Do you truly love me more than these? ... Do you truly love me? ... Do you love me?"