This blog entry may get me (Jesse) in trouble; as some may assume and presume that I am being arrogant or thinking too highly of myself. To those people, I apologize that you misunderstand me. However, I do NOT apologize for this blog, because I believe God has placed it on my heart to share here.
Have you ever been misunderstood? How did you feel? What steps did you take to correct people’s misunderstanding of you? Did those steps effectively work, or did you remain misunderstood? I find myself often misunderstood, and that there really have not been any steps I could take to change someone’s mind or misundertanding toward me.
As I repeatedly share about the call and ministry that God has been and is calling me to lead, I hear many people share what I am doing in a very misunderstood way. No, I am not traveling the world for fun. No, I am not creating a children’s home. No, I am not serving as a missionary to find a foreign wife. No, I am not prideful in trying to start an organization rather than just join with a larger, well-established ministry that’s doing similar work. And NO, I am not failing God nor others by ‘trying to do my own thing’!!
I am changing the world. The call of God in my life is not the same call for every person, nor for many people. Moses had a special call to lead God’s chosen people. Noah had a flood to fight. David had a specific calling for God’s glory; fighting a giant and leading Israel. Paul was sent to travel tons, carry the message and hope of the Good News to many, and to suffer for the glory of God. None of those leaders shirked their call because people around them misunderstood them. And I can not either. I am called to change the world, one child’s life at a time, while also working to change laws and a way-too-outdated model of help for children who are orphaned, homeless, abandoned, abused, living in the streets, and vulnerable to greedy, selfish, and sinful human pursuits to take advantage of them.
William Wilberforce was given a call from God to overthrow the slave trade system of Great Britain. He fought for years and years, sacrificing health, wealth, and personal gain, to see slaves freed from a barbaric cycle of oppression. He encountered tremendous oppositions, and was greatly misunderstood. I humbly propose the children to whom God has called me to advocate for, help, and defend are also victims of a barbaric cycle of oppression… many used for other inhumane humans’ selfish gains, pleasures, and pursuits.
I am very misunderstood and encounter often opposition to my sacrifice and surrender to God’s will for my life rather than my own. But this I know with all my heart… I am not to worry about those who misunderstand me, falsely accuse me, slander or gossip about me. I am to worry about being obedient and faithful for God’s call on my life for me and Abogar to change the world. God has big plans, and as we walk in them we will see the world changed for God’s glory! It will be awesome to see, whether here on earth or in eternity to come, that a multitude of lives of children were touched and transformed through my obedience and faithfulness to God’s call, even while others misunderstand me. To God be the glory!!
