The Best Laid Plans

Everyone dreams. And sometimes our dreams turn into attainable goals. And in order to reach your goals, you must have a plan. But what happens when your best laid plans don't work out?

Lately God's been really stretching my faith to fully trust Him in every aspect of my life. Slowly but surely, I'm learning that nothing I can plan or put together myself compares to what God can do if we take our hands off the wheel and let Him drive.

I'm a planner. I plan everything. I plan my outfits, my day, my summer. I planned to go to college, get my BS in Econ, get a good paying job and start rising up through the corporate world gaining experience. I planned to run my own business, be my own boss, marry my high school sweetheart, start a family, be a stay at home mom one day... I planned a lot. And I planned a life path that I thought would make me the absolute happiest.

Now, here I am, almost a decade later, and my life looks NOTHING like I planned. Some of those goals, those dreams of mine, I accomplished. But many of them I did not. And for a long time I struggled with why God wouldn't allow my plans to work. Why didn't He step in when things weren't going right and help me out?

Well, you see, He DID step in when things weren't going right. He did help me out, and here I am, 8 years later with my (practically useless) BS in Econ, engaged to marry the love of my life who I didn't even know back then, wearing shorts and flip flops for a living, helping my family run a nonprofit that helps the needy & less fortunate. Not at all what I had in mind. Proverbs 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
And can I tell you something else?
I've never been so happy in my entire life.

Some of you are probably rolling your eyes because missions work is just NOT the path you feel called to - and I totally understand because I didn't feel called either. I had no desire to live such a life of simplicity, giving all of me to others and ultimately Jesus. It just wasn't in the plan. But what I found was the problem was MY plan - it wasn't God's. In fact, if I'm being real honest with myself, God wasn't even in the equation. Yeah, I went to church every week, I tithed sometimes, I read a devotion every once in a while, but God was not the author of my life - I was. I didn't seek Him for direction in my life, much less with my WHOLE heart. (Jer. 29:13) I was making my own plan, reaching my goals by my own methods and abilities, and boy did I fail miserably.

I don't just mean things didn't work out. I mean, I wrecked my whole life. At the end of my best laid plans, I found myself an empty shell of someone I didn't even know. And that's when I put the pencil down. I handed the planner over to God and I quit trying to write my own life story.

Because the truth is, it's not my life. 1 Corinthians 6:19b - 20a says "You are not your own; you were bought at a price." I was created (as we all are) to bring glory and honor to my Creator, God. Isaiah 43:7 - Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. So what makes me think that it makes any kind of sense, to take a life created by God for His own glory, and plan it out how I think is best, reaching goals I've set for my own satisfaction, with no thought to what God wants? Insanity.

Alright, let's reevaluate - Almighty God created humans to bring Him glory. We failed; He made a way to save us because He LOVED us. And now we want to waltz through life living it however we please and tack on church attendance here and there and call it "Christianity?" No way. If you're God's child, if you've honestly given your heart and life to Him, then you better know He's not going to let you live a life of WASTE. Because that's what the best laid plans often are. They're meaningless when you look at God's bigger picture. I mean, seriously, what good does a degree do you in heaven??? I'm not saying education isn't important, not at all, but in the context of eternity, if it's not in GOD'S plan for your life - it's useless.

Maybe you think I'm crazy right now, but maybe a few of you are following. Please know that whatever God has planned for you is SO MUCH GREATER than what you have the ability to plan. I promise. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Hear me on this: Don't trade God things in life for good things.
No matter how "good" some things seem, if you put them in the place of God's plan for your life, you'll fail every time.

So, take a look at your life goals and get real honest with yourself for a minute. Is your main goal in life to give glory to God? I mean, really, is it? Does your purpose revolve around telling others about the glory of your Savior? Because if you're really a child of God and that's not your goal - He'll wreck it. Or He'll let you wreck it yourself.

You see, now my only goal in life is to bring honor and glory to my Savior and to spend every blessed day on earth telling others about Him. Everything else is just a glorious bonus. He realigned my focus to Him. I no longer spend my days chasing worldly things (money, relationships, success, or status) but I live for a heavenly purpose, which gives me more fulfillment than any of those things ever did/could. I'm not saying I no longer have ambition or goals, but God changed the desires of my heart and made them HIS desires. I work hard towards His will and in turn He blesses me beyond anything I could think to imagine.

This is the life God has called us to. You might think "that's not for me," but if you call yourself a Christian, it is for you. Choosing not to believe the truth doesn't make it not true. So I'd encourage you, especially you recent grads: reevaluate your goals. Ask yourself whose goals you're really trying to reach and if they're not God's goals, then put down the good things for God things. Even if it's not the path you would've chosen for yourself, I promise you'll end up with more than you could've dreamed up on your own and the happiest you'll ever be. I know that to be true, because that's what God's plan has done for me.

Overcoming Emotions

Humans are emotional creatures. It’s how we were made. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. And as a woman, I believe women tend to be more emotional than men, not all, but most. And lately I’ve been learning that it’s not a weakness. Ladies, you are made in the image of God, just as men are. Women carry certain traits that are a reflection of God’s image that men do not have and vice versa.

As for women being the more emotional creatures, God too is emotional. Dictionary.com defines emotion as “an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced.” God has sorrow and anger when His children sin, He has compassion on us in our sinful state, and He has joy when we choose to obey. God is an emotional God, but He is a constant God. His emotions do not change who He is, how He works, etc. As humans, we allow our emotions to control us. Our emotions and God’s emotions are not the same because we are sinful and God is not. However, we have emotions because God has emotions and we were created in the likeness of God. We were created “like” Him.

So now that we’ve established that our emotions are not a weakness, we can talk about controlling them.

As sinful beings, our emotions don’t always steer our hearts and minds the right way. Sometimes we get angry (which isn’t a sin), but allowing the anger to fester causes us to lash out, say things we shouldn’t, or act sinfully. Sometimes we get sad (which isn’t a sin), but allowing sadness to linger can cause us to become depressed.

Side bar: There is a lot of debate these days on whether or not depression is a sin. Personally, I don’t believe it is. However, I believe that to allow yourself to wallow in depression and sadness can cause you to sin in other areas, like self-harm. The Bible says that our body is God’s temple. I don’t think that allowing yourself to stay depressed is a way of taking care of God’s temple. When you realize you are depressed, I believe you should take action to get it under control, whether that’s through counseling, medical treatment, or talking to God and reading His word. Sometimes it takes action only as simple as telling someone who can get you the help you need. You will find what your mind and body needs when you take steps to heal it.

Continuing on…

Our emotions aren’t a weakness and they aren’t necessarily a sin. But as Christians, we have to learn how to control them in order to keep them from becoming a weakness in our Christian walk or turning into sin. Self-control isn’t easy for everyone and it can be one of the hardest things to learn or develop. Here are ways that I learned how to control my emotions and things I do to cope with how I feel:


1. Talk it out with God.

When the feelings come on strong, good or bad, I always take them to God. God has a way of putting how we feel into perspective. Whether we’re excited about something and our first reaction is to start making big plans, or if we’re upset about something and we want to react negatively, God can shed light on how we feel and how we should respond.


2. Turn to God’s Word.

The Bible has become my biggest resource for life. It is literally a life manual that we can carry around with us everywhere. If you don’t have the Bible App, stop right now and download it. Now, a lot of you are probably wondering how the Bible is going to “magically” help you when you get really upset about something. Where do I turn? What book of the Bible talks about being sad? Well here’s the good news. The internet has made life really easy for us. One of my favorite ways to seek out what God says about a particular subject is to go to www.openbible.info/topics or just google search the phrase “What does the Bible say about ______.” Openbible.info will give you a list of verses that talk about any word or phrase you type in. I use this tool every day for every emotion I feel that I need God to speak to. For example, when I’m feeling really down about a situation, I look up what the Bible has to say about encouragement. If I’m stressing or anxious about something, I look up what the Bible says about peace. No matter what the situation is, you can bet God has SOMETHING to say to you about it and if you look hard enough, you will find it.


Emotions can be a tricky thing, and controlling them can be even trickier. But what I love so much about God is that He is not an elusive God. He wants to be our “go to.” He wants to be sought after but He wants more to be found. He wants to know us and for us to know Him so much that He wrote us a love letter years and years before we were even thought of. If we make the decision to really go all in for Him, He will reveal Himself in every aspect of our lives if we allow Him, even the tough ones, like emotions. And the Bible is our key to knowing Him.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with your whole heart.

Moving Mountains

I was facing a huge mountain. A mountain I had lived with my entire life. A mountain than seemed to disappear at times in my life, seemed to have resolved itself, but would reappear, seemingly bigger than ever at the most inopportune times of my life. To be honest, the mountain usually appeared when everything seemed to be otherwise going really great.

I have spent 25 years analyzing the mountain. Trying to understand it, trying to move it, trying to explain it. I’ve made excuses, I’ve made arguments, and I’ve cried. I’ve cried a lot actually.

But here it is. Still standing. Taller than ever. Scarier than it’s ever been. Looming over everything and everyone I love, threatening to take it all away.

To say I hate this mountain is an understatement. And yet I’m so ashamed to say that I hate it. I’ve tried to give it to God many times. I’ve tried to fix it. I’ve tried to “be better” in hopes that God would see my efforts and just take it away. I’ve tried everything and quite frankly, I’m tired of “trying.”

But no amount of trying to fix it or be better or crying has moved my mountain.

But tonight I unlocked the key to moving the mountain and looking back, it was the most simple thing I have ever done.

I laid in the floor of my room and I cried. And I poured my heart out to God. I told Him all the ways in which this mountain had hurt me. I told Him all the ways that I had tried to fix the mountain, move the mountain, appease the mountain. I told Him everything. And you know what I got back after telling God everything?

He already knew. And He loves me. And He’s holding me.

That’s it.

But that’s all I needed tonight for this 25 year, monster of a mountain to move. That’s it. I needed God to tell me that He loves me and that He’s holding me. Of course I already knew that, but tonight I needed to feel His love and His strength. I needed to sense His presence. That’s it. I did nothing but lay on the floor crying and telling God how I felt. I was raw and honest and broken at His feet and He came down and strengthened me and held me.

And just like that, this mountain, this 25 year old, terrifying mountain was moved in my life.

Now here’s the catch: my situation has not changed one bit.

What has changed for me is my heart. My outlook. My faith. My trust. My focus.

The mountain will need moving again tomorrow. And tomorrow I will lay it at God’s feet again. I will cry again if I need to. I will pour out my heart to Him again tomorrow if I have to. And I don’t doubt for one second that my God will again move my mountain because I know how He loves me.

And I have faith that, in time, God will make something of this mountain. He will change it or use it for His glory in some way. But until then, I will give Him this mountain every day and I will lay my life down at His feet every day and pour my heart out to Him and He will strengthen me and love me and hold me. And God will continue to move my mountain.

What mountains do you need God to move? Have you really laid them at your Savior’s feet? Have you poured your heart out to God and trusted Him to take care of the mountain in your life?

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22

This verse is often misunderstood. It doesn't mean that whatever we want will be given to us in the way that our little brains believe we should receive. It means that if we truly believe that God has everything in control and that He will take care of us, if we pray in full faith that God will take action on our behalf, then He will take care of us. He will give us what we want, but sometimes it's not always in the way that we want it.

Believe and you shall receive what you ask for in prayer. Believe that God will move your mountain.

Believe it.

When People Ask For What You Can't Give...

Acts 3

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man ame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

I read this passage this morning and it immediately struck me: sometimes you meet people (like the beggar) who ask things of you that you don't have (like money), but you do have something they need... 

Have you ever encountered a cashier asking for donations for some charity? What about the man at the street corner with the cardboard sign? Or how about that couple that you know is struggling in more ways than just financially and you just don't know what to say to them so you try avoiding conversation completely?

Everyday we meet people who have problems that we can do nothing about. It's not just about finances, either. Your $5 isn't going to save all of the children with cancer or get the homeless man back on his feet, or stop the fighting in a married couples' lives over the financial struggles they've been having. And I'm not saying not to help out when you can - not at all. But you can't solve all the hurt, pain, sickness, and fighting going on in the world...

or can you?

I've realized that as Christians, what you DO have can solve all of their problems and then some they didn't even know they had. What you DO have is Jesus.

Peter looked at that beggar and knew he didn't have the money he needed to support him or even enough to buy his next meal. But what He did have was Jesus and by sharing that with the man, Jesus healed him, which solved the problem of why he was poor (because he could not work). Jesus gave the man his ability to walk again. Jesus came in and restored his life. But all because Peter heard him crying out and instead of looking away and avoiding him because he didn't have any money to give, Peter stopped to share Jesus with him.

Think for a moment... who are the people in your life who are crying out for help? Who are the people you encounter every day and occasionally try to avoid because you think you don't have what they're asking for? I challenge you to pray and ask God to open your eyes and heart to those people today so that you can stop and share Jesus with them today.

Nothing is impossible for God. Whether it's a sickness, financial problems, marital problem, etc, God can solve it with one healing touch. We need to be sensitive to His leading and to the opportunities that are in front of us daily and the way we have that sensitivity is through constant communication with God through prayer and His Word.

Find the problem you can't solve and share Jesus. You may be sharing the one thing someone needs most and didn't even know to ask for. It sounds so simple, but you could be saving their life.

It's Not About You

You've heard it before...

"It's not about you."

And they're right.. it's not. But do we really believe it? We say we do. But the way we live shows what we truly believe. And I have to ask... do you live it?

I just started reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan for the second time. The first time I got distracted and stopped reading halfway through and I just needed to take a breather and start over. That book is... wow. I can't recommend it enough. If you are looking to turn your "Christian lifestyle" upside down, please please please pick up a copy of either Radical by David Platt or Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Those books are great.

So in the first chapter of the book, Francis just talks about God in a general sense and there are a few quotes that I found to be incredibly challenging and honestly mind-blowing.

"We don't get to decide who God is."

Wow. It doesn't matter how we perceive Him, what we think of Him, or what we believe He is. Some say that any description of God is accurate as long as we're sincere. And that's just not true. God is who He is and He is who He has always been before time existed and that will never change. Our little minds can't change it. Wow. That's a lot to absorb. It's actually too much for us to completely understand or comprehend, but that's ok. That is the way God designed us to be.

"Not being able to fully understand God is frustrating, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending. What a stunted, insignificant god that would be! If my mind is the size of a soda can and God is the size of all the oceans, it would be stupid for me to say He is only the small amount of water I can scoop into my little can. God is so much bigger, so far beyond our time-encased, air/food/sleep-dependent lives."

Wow.

Just reflecting on how incredible God is and our inability to even comprehend or understand who He is, much less, what He's like or what He thinks gives me an awe and reverence for Him that I think we as Christians forget to have most days. We go on about these lives, OUR lives (so we think) and we live like everything is all about us - our jobs, our families, our income, our goals, our dreams, our futures... And if we'd just stop for 10 minutes and reflect on WHO GOD IS, I think it would take us all back a notch and remind us what this life is actually all about.

We were created to bring God glory. I find that in the daily routine most people have, very little glory is given to our Creator. I could go on for hours and pages and days about how we can much better live for God, but the purpose of this post today was just to stop you and remind you what life is about.

It's not about me and it's not about you. Your life isn't yours at all. It's God's. It's all God's. And I challenge you to start living like it, no matter how difficult the transition or the change will be for you.

I'm sure that when Jesus was finished being beaten beyond recognition and spit on and mocked and he was handed that heavy cross to carry to the place he would die for our sins that it was hard. I'm sure it didn't feel good. I'm sure he didn't WANT to. I'm sure it was embarrassing to be parading publicly in the condition that he was in. But he did it because he loves you and he did it as payment so that we could live eternally in Heaven with him if we just accepted that gift of salvation from him.

It wasn't fun and it wasn't easy, but he did it because he loves you. Can you just live for him? Do you love him enough to make that choice, that sacrifice? Can you just take a minute to start over and change your thinking and decide to stop making this life all about you? I challenge you to make the tough decision to give up your self-centered life and turn your attention and focus every day, every hour, every SECOND to bringing glory to God.

I wonder what our lives as Christians would look like if we truly lived solely and simply to bring glory to God.

Following Jesus... with URGENCY.

Matthew 16:24 - Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

We've all heard this, right? Put away your old self and put on the "new man" that Christ has given you and follow Him. And as Christians, that is what we're doing every day, right? Or at least we should be.

I know, personally, that denying yourself every day, every moment, takes a lot of work. It takes diligence and determination. It takes a heart that fully believes in God and is daily saturated in the scriptures. Maybe you're still working on that and maybe you've got it down. So let me put a twist in the commandment for you:

Not only did Jesus call us to let go of our old lives and follow Him, but He asks us to do it with urgency.

Matthew 8:22 says, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

At first glance, this verse caught me really off guard. Upon a little research, I figured out what the passage was about. Many of Jesus' followers were telling him that they wanted to follow Him and He was explaining to them the costs of truly following Him. The verse before this one (Matt 8:21) says, "Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father.'"

In today's speech, that may seem like this man was only mourning the recent death of his father and needed to take care of his funeral and burial, etc. However, in those days, language of this sort often meant that his father was not yet passed away. Maybe he was elderly or sickly, but often words like this would mean that he intended to stay with his father until he reached death and that could be weeks or it could be years.

So basically the man was telling Jesus that he wanted to follow Him as soon as his father passed away but it might be a while. He was telling Jesus that he believed what Jesus was teaching and he wanted to make a difference but what was most important to him at this moment was spending the final days of his own father's life with him.

Now that doesn't seem too selfish of a motive to stay home, right? I mean, yeah, maybe he should just let it all go and follow Jesus right then and there but would you? I mean, think about it: If it was your mom or dad and they were elderly or maybe sickly, would you leave them to follow Jesus and possibly miss the last days of their life on earth? 

It's a lot to commit to.

And since Jesus is God and God knows everything, He knew exactly what that man's family situation was like. He knew if his father was actually dead or not. He knew if his father was old or sick or dying. He knew. 

And this is how he responded: "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." (Matthew 8:22

Again, I questioned the deeper meaning behind these words and found that Jesus was telling him to leave the spiritually dead to bury the physically dead. Wow. That seems pretty harsh. He was basically telling the man that he needed to leave his father and follow Him and leave those who were spiritually dead to wait around on his father's death and let them worry about burying him.

That's a lot to take in. But the one thing I understood clearly from these 2 verses is that Jesus wasn't playing when He asked us to follow Him. That wasn't just a polite gesture or a nice option for Christians who wanted a more fulfilled life. He commanded us to follow Him and He expects us to do it with urgency.

WHY?

1 Peter 2:21 says, "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."

Because Christ suffered and died on the cross so that it was even possible for us to go to heaven, that's why.

And He knows that anything in this life, even good things like our family, can get in the way of His command. We need to reevaluate our walk every single day and ask ourselves if we're following Him with urgency.

He doesn't want you to wait until you've graduated high school and have a "real job."

He doesn't want you to wait until you're a college grad with a degree and a "direction."

He doesn't want you to wait until you're married or married with children.

He doesn't want you to wait until your kids are grown or your parents' health is better.

He doesn't even want you to wait until you're financially stable.

Matthew 8:20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Jesus wants you right here, right now, no matter what personal circumstances you are going through, to lay down your own life and to pick up the life He gave for you and follow Him. No matter how crazy or "irresponsible" or insane that might sound, He made you, so He knows what is best for your life. He knows that the life He has for you, even if it includes not having a permanent place to lay your head, He knows it is better than anything you can do on your own. He also already knows what you will choose to do.

And what is absolutely, most beautiful about Jesus, is that despite what we choose, He will love us and continue to make a way for us, no matter what.

That's incredible love.

To me, that's worth giving up everything I'll ever have to follow Him.

Ask yourself in your heart, are you willing to leave everything and everyone behind and say "yes" to following Jesus no matter where it takes you?

I hope so.

Free Pass

A professor at a prominent university welcomed his students on the first day of class with a gift. He said, "Everyone in this class is valuable to me. I want everyone to be able to learn freely, without the fear of failure this semester, so I have a gift for you all. Everyone will receive an A for this class. You don't have to do anything to earn it and it won't drop, no matter your involvement or participation in the class. You can take this gift and slack off and learn nothing, or you can take this gift and use this class to learn as much as you possibly can, rise above, and become the best you can be, without the fear of failure looming in the back of your minds. It's up to you what kind of student you will be."

Upon first hearing this story, I immediately thought back to my years of college and what I probably would have done with the free A. That would have most likely been my last day to show up for class and I would have spent my time sleeping in, hanging out with my friends, or doing work for other classes. Who wouldn't take advantage of a free A!?

Unfortunately, this is what most Christians have done with their salvation.  God looked down on us and loved us enough to give us a "free pass" to heaven if we accepted Christ's gift of salvation. Knowing our sinful nature, He set up this gift to where if we accepted it, it could never be taken away, despite our involvement in Christianity, despite our desire to share it with others, despite our sinful behavior. We've taken our "free pass" and chosen to sleep through the rest of our lives and to act as the world around us acts. Or we've chosen to pursue other dreams, goals, or hobbies that we deem more important or more pressing.

But what is more important or more pressing than the fact that people are dying around us every day and going to hell?

Let's get honest for a minute. How many people can you think back and say that you honestly helped them find and accept Jesus this year? Count them up.

On average, 55.3 million people die every year.

What kind of difference did you make in those 55.3 million people? How many of them do you think knew Jesus?

But maybe you weren't living right for most of this past year but recently you've decided to live for Jesus. Maybe you've decided to tell more people and live more boldly for Him. I commend you.

So, again, how many people did you tell about Jesus today?

151,600 people will die today.

How many people have you told about Jesus this hour?

6,316 people will die in the next hour.

Even as you read this blog, nearly 2 people die every second.

Our time on Earth is important. We were placed here to bring glory to God in our actions and to tell the lost about His gift of salvation. Think back over your day today and count up everything you did that you could say to God: "I did this, this and this today to bring glory and honor to You and I told these people about your gift to us."

I'm just as guilty. I fly through life without remembering why I'm even here most days.

We aren't here to graduate school, get a good job, get married, have kids, get a promotion, own our own company, or make a lot of money. Those things aren't necessarily wrong, but they aren't our purpose. We wonder why so many people feel lost and worthless and confused about their place and purpose in life when the reality is JESUS is our purpose. His glory & His story. That is why we are here. If you spend your time on Earth chasing all of those other worldly goals, you'll wake up every day feeling empty inside because Jesus is the only one who can fill that space. We were made for Him and He is the only one who can satisfy.

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

So what kind of college student are you? Would you take the A and slack off, accomplishing nothing? Or would you take the A and rise above, decide to learn and become better? How we respond to this gift shows our true character. You can take advantage of the gift and become lazy, or you can take the gift and become productive.

The choice is completely yours.

Take your "A" and do something great for Jesus. Take the incredible gift of salvation that He so graciously gave to us and become better. Live for Him.

Share it; tell the world.

"Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone."

Mark 16:15