The Road Less Travelled

This week I have been reminded that there are forks in the road for everyone and they are everywhere. Every morning, we wake up and begin making decisions and nothing is inconsequential; everything is sacred. Each decision we make changes something. Everything that we do has a serious affect on somebody somewhere.
Two men have made decisions that I have been aware of and it is changing my perspective about missions in Tanzania. One came to my attention yesterday evening, when a young man from Hong Kong came to my door asking for some help. It turns out that he had found some trouble that he didn't expect to encounter in a DTS in Africa, but he found himself being drawn into a group of doing some bad things. Soon he was giving in to them and all of them were eventually caught. Wow! Well, praise the Lord, he changed his behavior, he was extended grace and at the fork in the road, he took the road less travelled. The reason he was at my door was because the group continued to entice him and he wanted some advice. Soon, the things happening with some of the students that started with the one thing extended to something way beyond just a small mistake.  What is going on here!?!?!? After I heard this, there was no sense in waiting around. I went straight to the young men enticing this poor kid and buffeted information out of each of them. I gave them one day to come clean and when they didn't, I went straight to the DTS leadership and divulged everything. Now, we are less some students at DTS, but the affect it has had on me is significant. I have heard stories about the problems in Africa and even rumors about Pastors and ministers, even missionaries, involved in all kinds of immorality, but seeing it first hand is a different thing all together. Young men barely old enough to be soldiers, barely old enough to vote, barely old enough to rent an apartment are making decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. What have I come here for? Why am I in Africa if not to find a way to connect to young men's lives and contribute something meaningful and positive to them. (i.e. the lifesaving words and acts of Jesus) What can I contribute if they are dead? And with that in mind, all of a sudden I have this newfound feeling of urgency in communicating the truth of Jesus in a way that men and women and children can understand. What, Oh man, does God require of you? To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God. Every decision we make is to walk before him, fulfilling all that He requires of us, or to walk down a different path, to follow a different road, maybe one where the path is a little more trodden, maybe a little bit wider. What is our responsibility, then, as missionaries, those called to every tribe, tongue and nation to make disciples of all men, (each one of us that follow Jesus)? Is there any greater responsibility than to be present at the forks in the road?