Heavy Lifting – The 10/40 Window

0.16 ounces. That piece of paper was 0.16 ounces, yet somehow, it was the heaviest thing I’ve ever lifted in my 23 years on this earth. A scroll that listed every unreached people group in the world was passed around to my squad and I so that we could pray over it. The scroll was so long that it was able to be passed to all 24 people on base and still have plenty leftover. As the scroll unrolled across my lap, I immediately saw, “Japan – 123,750,000 (97.9% Unreached)”.

I was taken back to 2019 at the Fushimi Inari shrine, otherwise known as the thousand gates temple in Kyoto, Japan. My team and I went on an adventure day. As my team was hiking their way through the gates with awe and wonder in their eyes, I was frozen at the central part of the temple watching the people worship. As custom, in order for the gods to hear your prayer, you have to ring a bell to get their attention. Most people ring it a couple of times and pray, but there was a woman there not praying like the rest. This woman was desperately ringing the bell nonstop, crying and shouting out. I later learned she was shouting, “Please see me! Please hear me!” Most of my team remembers that day as a fun adventure through Kyoto, but I remember that day as when the Lord showed me the look on every unreached person’s face and the sound of every unreached person’s cry. 

I think we overcomplicate it, reaching the unreached. We spend years trying to equip ourselves with the proper knowledge, the right plan, the easiest way to transition. While we waste our days brainstorming, people are dying and facing an eternity without knowing the name of Jesus. It’s not about our own strength, our own knowledge, our own agenda, our own finances, or our own comfort zones. It never has been, and it never will be. 

Maybe you’re interested in missions and unreached people groups. Maybe you clicked this blog because you were looking for advice on the 10/40 window. The best piece of knowledge I can pass onto you is this: just go. 

One day I’ll stand face to face with the Father (as you will too). If on that day, the same 0.16-ounce scroll is laid before me, everything I brainstormed about doing won’t matter then, but what I actually did with this burden. 

What are you doing?