We took an “intercultural competency” test for our training time in Chicago. One of the categories was titled “venturesome.” The highest you could score was 15, a median score was 9 and I scored a 3, of course. I’m not that venturesome.
I take the same routes to and from places, most of the time. I also don’t really like ambiguity or change very much. I have no desire to jump out of a plane and if you want to try something new, I’m probably not the person you would call. Sounds pretty boring, right? Well, that’s me.
So why am I moving to the other side of the world, to a culture that is totally foreign to me in every way possible? I have asked this question before, plenty of times. Why would I be sent to a place that requires a certain amount of venturesomeness when for me that usually means ordering something new off the Chili’s menu?
As I’ve thought about this, I am reminded that God has always used the weak things of this world to show his strength. This is not a task I can manage on my own–not a chance. It’s a super-human task before me and I am sometimes scared to death of getting on an airplane and moving my family to the other side of the world. And while I can’t do it in my own strength, I know that I must to be obedient. So I’m taking my 3 points of venturesomeness and hoping it will be multiplied.
And multiplied.
And multiplied so perhaps I can get to at least 8 or 9 or so.