So why in the world are we still here?

So Why in the world are you still here? If you read our previous blog, you may be asking that very question. I will do my best to explain. After Velda and I began seeking the Lord together about being called to the mission field, we did what every good Southern Baptist does, we contacted the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist convention (SBC)and began applying for service with the division of the IMB known as the International Service Core.(ISC) (Gotta love those acronyms. "Hi, My name is Paul Rikel, I am part of the ISC with the IMB of the SBC." Just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?) Anyway, enough of that, The Morreaus were serving with the ISC/IMB/SBC so we pursued that same avenue because it was the only opportunity for people to serve who have had a divorce. So we made contact with them and filled out a few forms, prayed, prayed some more, waited, prayed while we waited...Then we got the news we had been waiting for. Only problem was, it was bad news. "Dear Mr. & Mrs. Rikel, Thank you for your heart for missions and intrest in the ISC of the IMB of the SBC. However at this time we are electing to cease the application process. We see that you and your wife have a history of divorce and we have found that divorce does not bode well in certain cultures. Thank you for your interest...etc." WOW! I must say that one stung a little. We had a ton of questions like "God, why would you put this call, passion, and heart for the people of Africa like this and then shut the door? Where in the Bible does it spell out "Thou shall not Be Missionaries if thy havest hadeth a divorceth? (Lil' rusty on my Kings English) What now?
Well, we went to Brother Dan, Jeff Wallace, Tommy and Cyndi, Wes and Laurie, and others and sought wise council. All of them told us the same thing, "Keep applying!" So that is what we did. We contacted the IMB and asked them to prayerfully reconsider our application. After a few days we received the news we had been eagerly awaiting.Once again it was bad news. I can not remember the exact wording but it went something like this, "Dear Rikels, Did you not understand the email we sent you a few months ago that said Noooooo? What part of Noooooo don't you understand? Don't make us tell you again!" You get the idea. (OK, i have to stop here and say we have the utmost respect for the IMB and harbor no ill feelings toward them whatsoever.) So what do we do now? Well I suggested we look into other missionary agency and we did check into a couple of others, but basically got the same reply, the divorce issue was a problem. On a side note, the ISC of the IMB was a 2 year commitment and after your term ended you had to reapply. Two years after we were turned down, the ISC program was suspended due to financial reasons and remains suspended today. God shut that door because that was not the right door at the right time.
So after a couple of rejections, we realized that yes, God had called us, but it just wasn't time yet. McKinley was in Junior High school and that is probably not the opportune time to move a child to a third world country and we realized God was wanting to do some things in our lives to prepare us before He sent us, so we prayed and waited. Over the next few years we returned to Zambia 3 more times. Each time we felt reaffirmed and fell deeper in love with the people there. In between trips we did anything we could to be an advocate for the people of Zambia and speak about them and missions to anyone who would listen.
After a while we began noticing God was moving us to make some changes in our lives. God basically started making us uncomfortable in our little world that we had become so comfortable in. I wont go into all those ways he was shaking us up, but I will tell you that the book Crazy Love really got us examining our lives. Not only that, but we felt like He was calling us to leave our big comfortable church. (Not that the church was comfortable, we had just become to comfortable in it.) That took some doing on God's part. But after seeking God for along while, it became clear He had another place of service for us.
At the beginning of this year we began visiting other churches. One of the churches we visited, and ended up joining, was Oak Grove Baptist Church. After our first couple of visits we began to feel that this may be the church God was calling us to, so we asked the Pastor, Michael Durham if we could meet with him one evening and ask him about the church and let him know a little about us. Early on in the conversation, we shared that we had been called to the mission field. Hey replied, "If I may ask? If you have been called to the mission field, why are you sitting here in my office?" Velda and I both looked at each other as if we new that was a very good question. We gave him the standard waiting on the Lord's timing answer, but we both sensed that the Lord was saying "It's Time." We talked about it and agreed that we needed to get the ball rolling. We had made contact with a ministry called World Venture a few months earlier and had made initial contact and they basically told us that we would be accepted by them, but for lifetime service with them, you have to have a bachelor degree with a year of Bible college. They even offered to give us a 2 year assignment and allow me to meet the education requirements while serving on the field. Velda and I discussed it and decided that sense we would have to rely on the financial support of other while on the field, we did not feel right about then having to pay for my education. So we came up with a plan. I would enroll at Mid-Continent in the Adult Advantage Program and get my degree. This would put us on a time frame of me finishing my education requirements about the time McKinley started his second year of college. He would stay here and we would go to Africa. Good Plan Right? Notice I said, "We decided, we discussed, we agreed"? Once again we were meeting with our Pastor for membership classes at Oak Grove. We told Him of our plan and he asked, "Are you going back to school because that is what man says you have to do or because that is what God told you to do?" Once again Velda and I looked at each other and realized we were making logical choices and not seeking God. That is when we earnestly began seeking the Lord's will and realized he was telling us to "GO". So we prayed about with who and believe we were led to SIM. They have a great organization and do a lot of work in Sub-Saharan Africa including Zambia, somewhere World Venture was not currently working.
With that being said, We have by no means been accepted yet. We may have the door shut any day. We realize that. In fact for us to get from here to the mission field will only happen if God does it. We are trusting Him. We are learning to listen to Him and not the world. We believe education is important and so does SIM. In fact I will probably have to take some classes tailored specifically for missions and cross culture evangelism but when i finish this term at Mid-Continent, I probably will not re-enroll. Instead, Pastor Durham has agreed to disciple and train me to help prepare us for ministry and I will probably take the classes recommended by SIM, online, in order to serve with them.
So why in the world are we still here? God wanted learn to trust Him more. And we have. In fact, we will have to trust him for everything if we Go with SIM. They do not pay us a salary, we will be totally relying on the support of ministry partners, friends, family and churches. He wanted us to start doing what we wanted to do in Africa in our lives everyday here in the U.S. He wanted to teach us some things about his sovereignty. He wanted us to be more mature in our faith and sound in our doctrine. He wanted us to learn to Let go and let God.
Stay tuned for; "why in the world would they want to know that?"