RPF0689-The_Missionary_Position
00:00:00.000 | When you're in winter's favorite town,
00:00:04.000 | the snow-covered mountains surround you,
00:00:08.000 | a historic main street charms you,
00:00:12.000 | and every day brings a new adventure.
00:00:16.000 | Welcome to Park City, Utah. Naturally, winter's favorite town.
00:00:24.000 | [sigh]
00:00:28.000 | Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, a show dedicated to providing you with the knowledge, skills, insight, and encouragement you need to live a rich and meaningful life now,
00:00:38.000 | while building a plan for financial freedom in 10 years or less.
00:00:41.000 | My name is Joshua, I am your host, and today I have an interesting essay that I'm going to share with you.
00:00:46.000 | I like to do this from time to time, share with you interesting things that I stumble across,
00:00:50.000 | and today's essay is "In That Vein."
00:00:53.000 | Now, in the previous episode of this show, I talked about spiritual freedom,
00:00:56.000 | and in the course of that show I was talking about the rings of freedom,
00:00:59.000 | I talked about, generally, spiritual freedom in general,
00:01:02.000 | but I honed in on the Christian religion specifically,
00:01:05.000 | and talked about how, um, talked about some specific things about Christianity,
00:01:09.000 | and why I believe that Christianity is the superior way for you to achieve spiritual liberty and spiritual freedom.
00:01:15.000 | One of the interesting things about Christianity is that Jesus talks so much about money,
00:01:20.000 | and it can be difficult to discern and figure out exactly what the Bible says about money,
00:01:25.000 | because there are many statements in the Bible that seem contradictory,
00:01:30.000 | that seem paradoxical at the very least.
00:01:33.000 | And this can be challenging to work through when you're trying to figure out,
00:01:38.000 | "How does my religion and my faith relate to money?"
00:01:42.000 | Well, this essay that I stumbled across doesn't answer that question,
00:01:45.000 | but it's just an interesting twist on what it means to be, I would say in some ways, a Christian.
00:01:51.000 | Although this episode, this essay is not written from a specifically Christian perspective,
00:01:56.000 | it's more from a, it's kind of intentionally generalized to have a broad audience.
00:02:02.000 | But it could, to some degree, some of the things in it could work from a Christian perspective.
00:02:08.000 | I stumbled across this essay in a book called Portable Trades and Occupations,
00:02:12.000 | by an author who writes under the name of "Grandpa."
00:02:15.000 | And the book is full of, it's all about how can you live, basically, anywhere in the world
00:02:19.000 | and engage in a trade or an occupation that's truly portable, that can go anywhere in the world.
00:02:24.000 | And the author is not a Christian, he is a libertarian and a libertine,
00:02:32.000 | makes no claims on religion of any kind.
00:02:35.000 | But he put this essay in here, and it just piqued my interest.
00:02:38.000 | I thought it was well-written, and it was kind of an interesting thing,
00:02:42.000 | to find a sales pitch for missionary work in the middle of a book on money.
00:02:46.000 | Now, there are some things in here, I hate, I'm sorry for the caveats,
00:02:50.000 | but there are some things in here that I despise,
00:02:52.000 | about some of the religious-y things in here that I just despise,
00:02:58.000 | that I think are flat-out immoral.
00:03:00.000 | But I'm going to read the essay as it is, because I think that you'll enjoy it,
00:03:02.000 | and clear-thinking people are able to take in information and carefully judge it for themselves.
00:03:08.000 | So, I hope you enjoy this essay.
00:03:11.000 | It comes in a book of very non-religious ideas, written by a libertine.
00:03:17.000 | But I thought this was just a fun essay, and I thought you would enjoy it.
00:03:21.000 | This is chapter 20 from the book "Portable Trades and Occupations",
00:03:24.000 | called "The Missionary Position", contributed by Poindexter T. O. Mitzvah.
00:03:30.000 | The profession I'm advocating in this chapter is truly portable and totally unregulated.
00:03:36.000 | All you need as your tools of the trade are yourself and knowledge of a small book.
00:03:40.000 | The book is readily available in every country throughout the world.
00:03:43.000 | Your work can be conducted in your choice of any country on earth,
00:03:46.000 | in any language, and under all economic and social conditions.
00:03:50.000 | The job is waiting to be done in every climate, temperature, and location, indoors or out.
00:03:56.000 | There are no limitations on your potential clientele.
00:03:59.000 | Your education, race, color, sex, age, nor your present bank balance are limiting factors.
00:04:05.000 | If you are inclined towards temporal power,
00:04:08.000 | then past practitioners in this job have achieved positions of such influence and leadership
00:04:12.000 | that they were to change the course of history.
00:04:14.000 | Whether you live like an ascetic or a prince is largely your choice.
00:04:18.000 | If you are dissatisfied with your present job and/or employer,
00:04:21.000 | and if you are looking for an exciting profession offering the prospect of constant change and unlimited dividends,
00:04:27.000 | then this unexpected choice of an occupation may be just the thing.
00:04:31.000 | Do you sometimes wish your boss and your competitors would drop dead?
00:04:35.000 | Well, that may be one surefire way they'll get to meet my boss.
00:04:38.000 | Why? Because I am an independent missionary.
00:04:42.000 | Before you hurriedly skip ahead to the next chapter, spare a moment.
00:04:45.000 | Keep an open mind.
00:04:46.000 | Think about some of the unique perks available only in my profession.
00:04:50.000 | My employer does not file tax returns on my salary with any government in the world.
00:04:55.000 | In this world.
00:04:56.000 | Thus, income earned in this profession is totally tax-free.
00:04:59.000 | The boss can be very demanding, but at the same time, you only work when inspired,
00:05:04.000 | and the opposite is always very satisfying.
00:05:06.000 | There have never been any problems with unemployment.
00:05:09.000 | Demand, strange as it may seem to the outsider, far exceeds the supply of available professionals.
00:05:15.000 | Low overhead.
00:05:16.000 | No props, special education, or expensive technology is needed.
00:05:20.000 | In fact, sometimes you can operate effectively even without a roof over your head.
00:05:24.000 | As we stated above, there are no advanced educational requirements.
00:05:28.000 | However, the abilities to read, write, and speak effectively are helpful.
00:05:32.000 | Unmute lifetime employment by an organization with an unbroken year-after-year reputation for reliability
00:05:37.000 | and an insatiable demand for its services.
00:05:40.000 | Ever since the first human beings were created, they have needed faith,
00:05:43.000 | and people who could help them find it.
00:05:45.000 | Supporting those who spread the gospel and affection for the missionary or equivalent
00:05:49.000 | has always been a top priority for some members of every society.
00:05:53.000 | An active social life with constant human contact.
00:05:56.000 | Totally flexible working hours.
00:05:58.000 | You can forget about traffic jams, commuting, and office politics.
00:06:02.000 | Opportunities to travel anywhere in the world.
00:06:04.000 | Favorable consideration for visas, passports, and residence permits.
00:06:08.000 | Guaranteed food, clothing, and companionship for life.
00:06:11.000 | An especially favorable retirement program, continuing, well, literally for eternity.
00:06:18.000 | Infinite returns on your investment.
00:06:20.000 | As a result of my career and travels, I have standing open invitations to return to
00:06:25.000 | and live in any number of top quality homes in a variety of exotic locations throughout the world.
00:06:30.000 | From owners of islands in the South Pacific to movie stars' homes in the Swiss Alps.
00:06:34.000 | From Budapest to Bangkok.
00:06:37.000 | From musicians and artists in Rio de Janeiro to ranchers in the United States.
00:06:41.000 | And there are many more people in the world who would be glad to have me drop in
00:06:44.000 | or use their places and stay as long as I chose to.
00:06:47.000 | I do not have to own things.
00:06:49.000 | My employer provides a wide range of choices.
00:06:52.000 | The offer made at the end of this chapter is no joke or gimmick.
00:06:55.000 | It actually works and could be the ideal PT way of life for you.
00:06:59.000 | I've personally been employing my time this way for 20 years
00:07:03.000 | and know many others who've had successful, rewarding careers as independent missionaries.
00:07:08.000 | My own background.
00:07:10.000 | Let me share my true personal story with you.
00:07:13.000 | I was an honors student, receiving top marks at that world-renowned engineering and technical mecca,
00:07:18.000 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.
00:07:21.000 | There I was pursuing concurrent degrees in electrical engineering and behavioral sciences.
00:07:26.000 | Enrolled in a course in MIT's business administration department, the Sloan School of Management,
00:07:31.000 | I was almost guaranteed a job with a six-figure salary if I simply completed my bachelor degree.
00:07:37.000 | Back then, a degree in engineering seemed as good as gold.
00:07:41.000 | There were unlimited job prospects.
00:07:43.000 | I note that now, 20 years later, many of those same engineering graduates are unemployed with very limited options.
00:07:50.000 | Due to my unconventional path, I now have more opportunities than I can possibly handle.
00:07:56.000 | My job satisfaction levels are higher than any of my former classmates at MIT,
00:08:01.000 | regardless of how much money they are making.
00:08:05.000 | I was only a couple of semesters away from completing my studies at MIT when I took stock of where I was heading.
00:08:10.000 | I looked around me at those on the same treadmill.
00:08:13.000 | My classmates were anything but happy.
00:08:15.000 | I saw only aggressive, materialist kids with very limited philosophies.
00:08:20.000 | They wanted success, but their role models were anything but successful.
00:08:25.000 | Somehow, the prospect of a cushy job and a niche in the corporate world was fading in its appeal.
00:08:30.000 | The thought of laboring alone for endless hours over long equations, formulae, and complex computer programs was depressing.
00:08:37.000 | Perhaps I'd drift into defense work, which in those days absorbed the majority of my colleagues.
00:08:43.000 | Then some corporation or secret government agency could kill millions of people using new computer hardware or software, which I would help develop.
00:08:50.000 | This prospect seemed even more dismal.
00:08:53.000 | Suppose the best case would happen.
00:08:55.000 | I was destined to work on some benign project, that product that would, for instance, revolutionize cost accounting and furniture manufacturing.
00:09:03.000 | I wondered if success and a high standard of living from such a project would be satisfying.
00:09:07.000 | If I followed the conventional path expected of me, the future involved perhaps 40 years in a 9-5, rather dull job.
00:09:15.000 | It might pay well, and I'd be able to buy a very expensive suburban home with a worrisome mortgage.
00:09:20.000 | I was six months from graduation when I started to look around at other possibilities.
00:09:24.000 | During this period of soul-searching, I met a pair of independent missionaries on campus.
00:09:29.000 | I could tell that they had nothing to do with MIT's student body or faculty.
00:09:33.000 | They weren't worried or rushing to get somewhere.
00:09:36.000 | As a great rarity on campus, they were talking with each other and smiling.
00:09:40.000 | Watching them from a distance, they seemed to have a certain purposefulness and bearing, as if they knew exactly where they were going and were enjoying the passage.
00:09:48.000 | After a few minutes of trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, they sensed my interest and introduced themselves by name, with a warmth and sincere interest in me that was unique in my experience.
00:09:59.000 | These chaps did not exhibit the same mentality and conformity as did most of my fellow classmates.
00:10:04.000 | What did they look like? What did they say? And what did they do, these strangers who showed me an alternate track and unhitched me from the high-tech choo-choo?
00:10:12.000 | Well, they were about my age. They looked pretty much like the rest of us.
00:10:16.000 | I've forgotten how they were dressed because it wasn't important.
00:10:19.000 | But what was unusual was they were much friendlier than most. That was what first got my attention.
00:10:25.000 | What was unusual, and what attracted me so much, was that they seemed genuinely interested in me.
00:10:30.000 | And me personally. Not me, the degree candidate, nor me, the future employee to be exploited, but just plain old me.
00:10:37.000 | Five minutes after our meeting, they invited me to their nearby apartment that evening.
00:10:41.000 | At first I thought it was going to be a party. Maybe an orgy with lots of drugs and girls.
00:10:46.000 | I figured these boys had to be drug dealers. After all, how could anyone be so free and loving if they weren't high on something?
00:10:52.000 | These two strangers on campus told me they were missionaries, and that the big problem that was so troubling to me was not really a problem at all.
00:11:00.000 | They were the first to introduce the concept that a career as an independent missionary was an option open to me.
00:11:06.000 | My first reaction was that these guys were nice, do-gooder types, but their ideas were rather simple-minded and certainly impractical.
00:11:14.000 | However, I went back to their apartment the next day, to a small gathering where a few new people,
00:11:18.000 | including some pleasant-looking girls, explained how they themselves had gotten into the missionary business.
00:11:23.000 | Like me, they had been on other career tracks, but found no satisfaction in them.
00:11:27.000 | After about half an hour of listening, I weighed what they told me about their profession against my bleak future.
00:11:32.000 | So, even without any "sign," I decided to give being a missionary a try for a couple weeks.
00:11:38.000 | I packed a few necessities, left my school dorm, and didn't show up at my classes.
00:11:42.000 | I was quite unsure of how things would work out.
00:11:45.000 | I slept at the missionaries' apartment that night and had the first untroubled, nightmare-less sleep I'd had in a long time.
00:11:51.000 | I'd finally made a decision that seemed to be getting me out of the rut I hated.
00:11:55.000 | Things got interesting. I joined my newfound friends and went out on the street to save souls.
00:12:00.000 | I found I could talk and relate very well to complete strangers.
00:12:04.000 | I took some classes, more like friendly talks with the missionaries.
00:12:08.000 | I got friendly with a girl in the movement. No sex, but I felt loved and comfortable with her.
00:12:13.000 | A week later, I went to the dean's office to try and collect the unused remainder of my tuition.
00:12:17.000 | Before this would be granted, I was required to have the approval of an omniscient, omnipotent being with the title "student counselor."
00:12:24.000 | Refunds were only made for medical reasons or family emergencies.
00:12:28.000 | The counselor turned out to be a decent guy, a trained psychologist.
00:12:32.000 | The poor fellow was really perplexed.
00:12:34.000 | In examining my records, he saw the chronicle of a "perfect student," straight A's,
00:12:38.000 | invitee to the dean's dinners, high school valedictorian, favorite with teachers for being well-behaved, on time, and studious.
00:12:45.000 | After clearing the academic lump from his throat, he declared,
00:12:49.000 | "Well, there seems to be nothing in your record to suggest this sudden trauma.
00:12:53.000 | Perhaps you're being forced or brainwashed into some cult against your will.
00:12:57.000 | Your purported missionary friends may be agents of some foreign power.
00:13:00.000 | Did one of their female agents seduce you?"
00:13:02.000 | I did not admit to it, but there was the girl missionary whom I found to be very attractive, and she was very interested in me.
00:13:08.000 | For a moment, I wondered if I wasn't being seduced into something that wasn't what it appeared to be.
00:13:12.000 | The psychologist said, "If your situation is what I suspect, and it has happened before,
00:13:17.000 | we have ample means at our disposal to handle things."
00:13:21.000 | This was no idle boast. MIT's political science department was a thinly-veiled division of the CIA.
00:13:27.000 | The electrical engineering computer division housed the backup computer to the Apollo space mission
00:13:31.000 | in one of those ubiquitous, bland-looking old brick buildings.
00:13:34.000 | Upon graduation, many budding young scientists were set up with nice tree-shrouded little office buildings
00:13:40.000 | and given small research companies to run in suburban Cambridge, Massachusetts.
00:13:45.000 | There, with very high salaries and expense allowances, they perfected code-breaking software,
00:13:50.000 | listening devices, high explosives, and other such useful products.
00:13:54.000 | All this under the watchful eyes of CIA and FBI agents who were charged with maintaining ideological purity.
00:14:00.000 | "No," I said, "I'm not in any trouble. I am not being recruited by the Soviets.
00:14:04.000 | I just want to quit school, and I need your okay to get my tuition money partially refunded."
00:14:09.000 | Then the words came out of my mouth, although I had never even thought of it that way before.
00:14:13.000 | "I have been called to serve Jesus."
00:14:16.000 | There was my sign. I didn't intend to say anything like that.
00:14:19.000 | In fact, to qualify for the refund, I was ready to invent some medical reasons for my decision.
00:14:23.000 | But those words are what came out, loud and clear.
00:14:26.000 | The poor fellow must have been surprised.
00:14:28.000 | He hadn't heard that one before, and there was nothing in the counseling manual to talk a kid out of following a divine inspiration.
00:14:34.000 | He just said, "I hope you know what you're doing."
00:14:37.000 | Then came the first small miracle.
00:14:39.000 | With a smile and a handshake, he bid me goodbye and good luck.
00:14:43.000 | A few weeks later, I got my check.
00:14:45.000 | After three months in the Boston area, meeting and talking to mostly fellow students and street people,
00:14:49.000 | I accepted an invitation to join a team of missionaries beginning work in the South Pacific, among the nascent counterculture there.
00:14:56.000 | Since those early days, my path has often crossed with that of another missionary I met during my first month on the job.
00:15:02.000 | We keep seeing each other in different corners of the globe, from South China to Scandinavia.
00:15:07.000 | He too has a story similar to mine.
00:15:09.000 | Within a few weeks of joining the missionaries, I was pleased to learn that my new sidekicks had not abandoned normal, healthy sex, contrary to my preconceived notions.
00:15:17.000 | Remember, I came from a Catholic background where being in the clergy and doing it didn't mix.
00:15:22.000 | But as a missionary, although one-night stands were not forbidden, it was important and practical to find a partner who shared my new vision and would work with me.
00:15:29.000 | I began scanning the horizons for a potential mate.
00:15:32.000 | I met my wife-to-be within a few months.
00:15:34.000 | We kept house for a few months and were married the next year.
00:15:37.000 | It was great in every way, and still is.
00:15:40.000 | Can you imagine sharing your life with someone who totally supports your career interests and is even a full-fledged partner and participant?
00:15:46.000 | Our work and home venues have often coincided, so I never experienced the empty hotel room syndrome of the traveling businessman.
00:15:53.000 | Since we share the same goals and ideals, we are not afflicted with the arguments of the "normal" married couple.
00:15:59.000 | Soon we had children.
00:16:00.000 | From the beginning, our children shared a never-hindered or challenging nomadic lifestyle.
00:16:05.000 | So what's so different about our job?
00:16:07.000 | Why do I feel it's better than being a police chief, stockbroker, or a newspaper editor?
00:16:11.000 | Well, for one thing, here's the proof of the pudding.
00:16:13.000 | My initial two-week hiatus from MIT, or my trial period as a fledgling missionary, has continued uninterrupted now for more than two decades.
00:16:21.000 | I've never regretted for a moment that I left the ivy-covered walls of MIT in the distance.
00:16:27.000 | Not for one second have I ever thought I'd be better off in a conventional career.
00:16:31.000 | While some of those in any profession or trade will try to persuade you that theirs is the right profession for you,
00:16:36.000 | I will say that my career as an independent missionary really is the most satisfying thing one could do on earth.
00:16:43.000 | Why, you ask?
00:16:44.000 | Well, for one thing, I never suffer from job insecurity.
00:16:47.000 | I could say that my boss has never fired anyone, but that wouldn't mean anything to you.
00:16:52.000 | Putting it a different way, there's plenty of work to do, filling obvious needs.
00:16:55.000 | The Bible says that "the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."
00:17:01.000 | In other words, there will always be more work to do than there are workers available to do it.
00:17:05.000 | This has definitely been my experience.
00:17:07.000 | A missionary needn't worry about money because the necessities and even the luxuries of life always fall into place.
00:17:13.000 | There are many wealthy and not-so-wealthy people in the world who feel it a privilege to support your work.
00:17:18.000 | Owning the latest model car and wearing designer label clothes is not something we feel is important.
00:17:23.000 | If a Land Rover is needed in our work, we get it.
00:17:25.000 | If a warm fur parka is needed, it too materializes.
00:17:29.000 | And the wonderful thing about doing God's work is that it is multinational.
00:17:33.000 | I go to virtually every corner of the earth and have plenty of worthwhile things to do.
00:17:37.000 | I know that if I devote my days to spreading His message, He will see to my needs.
00:17:41.000 | How does He pay my bills?
00:17:43.000 | Well, sometimes by cash, sometimes by check.
00:17:46.000 | The actual money comes via those who sponsor my endeavors.
00:17:50.000 | Just as I receive direction from a higher power, other people who are not missionaries themselves are moved to support my work.
00:17:56.000 | I do not beg for donations.
00:17:58.000 | Generous gifts come my way without my asking for them, and bequests and endowments exist to support our work.
00:18:04.000 | Other times we get what we need through means less well understood by the five senses,
00:18:08.000 | something we in the trade call "miracles," which are referred to by others as "unexplained phenomena."
00:18:14.000 | I'll give examples later on in this story.
00:18:16.000 | Are there ever problems? Sure.
00:18:18.000 | More than once things got too hot for me in a country where those in power stopped my work
00:18:22.000 | because they perceived that the ideas I was spreading undermined their local establishment.
00:18:26.000 | We are not anxious to spend time in jail.
00:18:29.000 | I plant ideas or start projects that will be carried on by others.
00:18:32.000 | Then I move on.
00:18:33.000 | If I ever feel the need for the fresh challenge of an unexplored horizon, the whole world needs our work.
00:18:39.000 | In my short career I have circled the globe several times and have worked for lengthy periods on all five continents.
00:18:45.000 | I have lived, studied, and taught in dozens of countries,
00:18:48.000 | and have personally talked with tens of thousands of interesting people from every nationality, culture, and background.
00:18:53.000 | I don't force ideas on anyone.
00:18:56.000 | Like the missionaries who recruited me, I sense people's needs and fill them.
00:19:00.000 | It is satisfying.
00:19:01.000 | In short, over the last 20 years I've had lots of different experiences,
00:19:05.000 | and that for me has been enjoyable.
00:19:07.000 | Fun, if you prefer that word.
00:19:09.000 | What about financial considerations, you say?
00:19:11.000 | Well, that depends.
00:19:12.000 | If you're interested in accumulating a lot of money and earthly possessions for yourself,
00:19:16.000 | then missionary work is definitely not the career for you.
00:19:19.000 | However, if your tastes are moderate and you place higher values on job satisfaction and quality of life,
00:19:25.000 | then you couldn't find a better financial arrangement than this one.
00:19:28.000 | If you're happy to have the use of things and not own them,
00:19:31.000 | I can assure you that God does not insist you be into conscious self-denial.
00:19:35.000 | We eat well, live well, and attend concerts and parties.
00:19:38.000 | We sometimes control substantial funds, but our priorities are different from that of most.
00:19:43.000 | We travel light, and that alone prohibits the accumulation of too many possessions.
00:19:47.000 | We have no substantial bank accounts or savings,
00:19:50.000 | and if we did, we'd find people whose urgent needs were more worthy of our funds than a distant, rainy day.
00:19:56.000 | In the final analysis, the most you or anyone else will ever have is a lifetime lease on any possession.
00:20:01.000 | Ownership is always for a limited period because you can't take it with you.
00:20:05.000 | I can't explain to you exactly in mechanical terms how it all works for us.
00:20:09.000 | I just know the financial thing does work.
00:20:12.000 | Sometimes the boss may fix things to make our books balance.
00:20:15.000 | What I mean by that is that he has the capability to provide assets,
00:20:19.000 | and often does so through unexpected sources.
00:20:22.000 | He's never failed me yet, nor has he failed anyone else we know who has worked in his full-time employ,
00:20:27.000 | trusting in him to keep his part of the bargain.
00:20:29.000 | As far as return on your investment goes, this is by far the best deal available on earth today.
00:20:34.000 | My boss gives an infinite return on your investment,
00:20:37.000 | much better than a measly 7 or 8% on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds,
00:20:41.000 | or even the slightly higher yields on shaky junk bonds or rollercoaster stocks.
00:20:46.000 | Compare that to some of the following unorthodox means by which I've received my income over the years as an independent missionary.
00:20:53.000 | Only a week before my departure, on a trip from New York to the South Pacific, I was penniless.
00:20:58.000 | Then a man who had sworn to others that he would never support my work because he did not agree with my beliefs,
00:21:03.000 | suddenly had a change of mind.
00:21:05.000 | He paid my full fare for the journey.
00:21:07.000 | You may well ask, "How did this happen?"
00:21:09.000 | Well, I'll let you in on a little trick of the trade.
00:21:12.000 | I had a chat with my boss.
00:21:13.000 | He, in turn, had a word with the gentleman in question.
00:21:16.000 | My boss is very effective in his persuasion,
00:21:19.000 | since he doesn't have to use a large quantity of decibels to penetrate the phone lines, office doors, eardrums, or skulls.
00:21:26.000 | He can talk to someone directly to their inside, often bypassing conventional logic circuits.
00:21:32.000 | When we want something to happen, we try a prayer.
00:21:34.000 | As often as not, people whose help we need see the light, and God's will is done.
00:21:39.000 | On a trip to buy groceries one day while driving a borrowed car,
00:21:43.000 | I stopped when I saw something on the road and found $100 in cash.
00:21:47.000 | This was the exact amount of a grocery bill I'd just paid.
00:21:51.000 | While things like this have not occurred often, it was a convincing demonstration to some skeptics who were riding in the car with me at the time.
00:21:57.000 | They became believers.
00:21:58.000 | Usually help comes from friends or well-wishers in the business community,
00:22:03.000 | and the occasionally conscience-pricked relative.
00:22:06.000 | While hitchhiking through the Australian outback one dark night,
00:22:09.000 | my companion and I were picked up in a battered truck by a tattered old farmer who drove us to his shack.
00:22:14.000 | When we hesitantly entered the shack, there was already set out on the table three steak dinners.
00:22:19.000 | After dinner, he advised us to sleep around the back of his shack.
00:22:22.000 | There, to our surprise, we found a brand new trailer with two freshly made-up beds.
00:22:26.000 | After spending a day talking to people on the streets of a large city,
00:22:29.000 | on my way back home I suddenly stepped on a wad of money, which turned out to be almost the exact amount of money that I needed for some printing I wanted to do but couldn't afford.
00:22:38.000 | Again, when preparing for a journey to China, and still several hundred dollars short of the needed fare,
00:22:42.000 | I suddenly received an insurance claim check from the local government.
00:22:46.000 | It was for ten times the amount I was expecting.
00:22:48.000 | Another time, my wife and I were discussing how we could supplement the children's diet with meat while on a mission.
00:22:54.000 | Then suddenly we heard a loud thud outside the door.
00:22:58.000 | A truck had gone by, and off the back of the truck had fallen a large case of good quality canned beef.
00:23:04.000 | In more than twenty years of this life, I've lived in everything from a high-rise luxury apartment in Hong Kong to a sheep farm in Australia.
00:23:11.000 | There wasn't a day that I lacked a suitable roof over my head.
00:23:14.000 | Many times we stayed in beautiful locations with breathtaking vistas.
00:23:18.000 | "So what?" you say.
00:23:19.000 | Well, during those same twenty-odd years, I've also never had any outstanding bank loans or mortgages to contend with.
00:23:26.000 | Reason? I've never owned properties or possessions I couldn't abandon or give away when I moved, and as a result, they've never owned me.
00:23:34.000 | And during the times when I did not have the outright free use of a property, I've never lacked the money to pay my rent on time.
00:23:40.000 | Sometimes the rent money showed up on the very day the rent payment was due, through an unexpected source.
00:23:45.000 | But in most situations, I had paid the rent well in advance, as I have been able to do with all my other bills.
00:23:51.000 | Coincidence, you say?
00:23:53.000 | Perhaps.
00:23:54.000 | I'll concede on some of these points for the sake of argument, but after living through twenty years of such unexpected surprise returns,
00:24:00.000 | I'd still take these "coincidences" any day over a salaried paycheck.
00:24:04.000 | To me, these minor miracles are evidence that I'm doing something that he approves of.
00:24:08.000 | And I feel that these are tangible evidence that my faith has been placed in the right things.
00:24:12.000 | You wonder, "What about health care programs?"
00:24:15.000 | Well, I've been in perfect health and consider myself under very good care.
00:24:19.000 | I haven't spent a day in the hospital in twenty years and have seldom visited a doctor.
00:24:23.000 | I do see the occasional dentist.
00:24:25.000 | And since my boss already has the proven reputation for raising the dead, giving sight to the blind,
00:24:30.000 | hearing to the deaf, and clearing up epilepsy and leprosy, etc.,
00:24:34.000 | I've decided to leave all my other minor and sundry ailments to his care as well.
00:24:38.000 | I eat whatever comes my way, and I'm in far better shape than my dad was at my age.
00:24:42.000 | And for the sake of argument, let's say I'm dead wrong about this "eternity business."
00:24:46.000 | Even if I don't go to something better after death, I've still lived a happier, richer, more fulfilling, healthier life than others.
00:24:52.000 | We all end up with a zero available personal bank balance after we've sighed our last sigh.
00:24:57.000 | Who will say that it's more worthwhile that you should have accumulated more earthly wealth working for Big Brother than I did as a missionary?
00:25:03.000 | Maybe you can take it with you.
00:25:05.000 | My position is that I can, and I will take the goodwill and merit I've accumulated with me when I die.
00:25:11.000 | Maybe after all this, you are a little bit interested in the missionary position.
00:25:15.000 | You want to know, "Exactly how can I be a missionary? Can I start at a late stage in life?"
00:25:20.000 | As you know, I myself became a missionary nearly overnight.
00:25:23.000 | I never went to theological school.
00:25:25.000 | Now, I wish to emphasize I'm not talking about being an employee of a large denomination or some big church organization.
00:25:30.000 | I'm not talking about going to seminaries or theological colleges.
00:25:34.000 | I'm talking about becoming, like me, a good, old-fashioned missionary with no frills attached and none of the trappings of modern theology.
00:25:41.000 | What did I do?
00:25:43.000 | I simply walked away from my previous career and began my new job the next day.
00:25:47.000 | I did not possess any particular rare talents or skills.
00:25:50.000 | My first step towards my new career was that I received Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Savior.
00:25:56.000 | How does this happen?
00:25:57.000 | Basically, it was via a simple prayer that I prayed with those two people I met that fateful day.
00:26:02.000 | I acknowledged that my life was incomplete as it was and wanted the help I needed to find that purpose, meaning, and joy in life that I sought and could not find in anything I had experienced to date.
00:26:11.000 | If you wish to see the passages which they showed me that had such a powerful effect on my life, you could refer to John 1.12 and John 3.16.
00:26:20.000 | That was basically all it took.
00:26:22.000 | But I then also decided to take the additional step of offering myself in His full-time employee.
00:26:26.000 | He accepted me and provided me with guidance.
00:26:29.000 | I felt I should read the Bible.
00:26:30.000 | I did.
00:26:31.000 | That was where becoming a missionary came in.
00:26:33.000 | Everything else has just come with time and experience, such as how to talk to people, how to make successful decisions, how to find necessary provisions, etc.
00:26:41.000 | These come through the shared experiences of other missionaries and through reading our trade manual, the Bible.
00:26:46.000 | What exactly is our work?
00:26:48.000 | Basically, the days of an independent missionary are usually spent talking with others and explaining to them the simple love of Jesus and offering His solutions to their life's problems as clearly outlined in the Bible.
00:26:59.000 | However, you may need to discard some of your preconceived ideas of what a missionary is.
00:27:04.000 | An independent missionary is not someone in a three-piece suit putting bras on naked native women in the middle of a jungle.
00:27:10.000 | Nor is it a life of constant pain, deprivation, and suffering, as some may believe.
00:27:14.000 | If you're very concerned about face or what people think about your reputation or your position in society, perhaps this is not exactly the job for you.
00:27:22.000 | The simplicity of life as an independent missionary has some other special economic advantages.
00:27:28.000 | There is the old saying in missionary circles, amongst those who greet new members of the profession in foreign lands,
00:27:33.000 | "Give us a list of what you need and we'll tell you how to do without most of them."
00:27:37.000 | And this is indeed quite true.
00:27:39.000 | Many people's lives are unfortunately encumbered with many things they really don't need, but which they've been convinced they can't live without.
00:27:46.000 | These possessions don't make them happy or satisfied, but are albatrosses shackling the owners into immobility and causing much stress and strain in the care, maintenance, and paying for them.
00:27:55.000 | Another common obsession is the future security of their offspring.
00:27:58.000 | You may wish to ask me, "This hand-to-mouth missionary stuff works fine for you, but what about your kids? How will they turn out?"
00:28:05.000 | Well, I myself have seven children and they've all turned out fine.
00:28:08.000 | They're healthy, happy, and fulfilled in their lives.
00:28:11.000 | Because as a family we've often needed each other's help to make it through tough times,
00:28:15.000 | my children have in general turned out more considerate and responsible than their peers,
00:28:19.000 | whose parents' careers and lifestyles rarely afford them the chance to be together.
00:28:23.000 | We live together full-time as a family, share the same work interests and activities, and united pursue the same goals in life.
00:28:30.000 | I've had educational experts and inspectors exclaim that they wish their children could receive as effective an education as mine have.
00:28:37.000 | For example, one of my daughters would easily qualify as a fully experienced primary school teacher in her own right,
00:28:43.000 | due to her years of practical experience in helping to homeschool her younger siblings and the offspring of our co-workers.
00:28:48.000 | We missionaries educate our own, and we do a far better job of it than any public school.
00:28:53.000 | Our children have already been faced with, and have learned to successfully cope with many crises in life,
00:28:59.000 | such as our frequent change of locations and cultures.
00:29:02.000 | Missionary kids are thus better adjusted and prepared at an earlier age to face life's challenges
00:29:06.000 | than those who have only read about moral strength and character in a textbook.
00:29:10.000 | I don't go to bed at night wondering if my children will get into a status symbol Ivy League school,
00:29:14.000 | or if they will make the "right" choices later in life.
00:29:17.000 | I have no fear that all my time spent trying to set a proper example for them will have been in vain.
00:29:22.000 | Can your neighbor say the same?
00:29:24.000 | Admittedly, there are some occupational hazards to the job of a missionary,
00:29:28.000 | but these are not usually too severe, depending on how much you're concerned about the opinions of society.
00:29:33.000 | Since independent missionaries do not proselytize for and bring business to the large established churches,
00:29:38.000 | they are usually considered to be the competition, and are unpopular with them.
00:29:42.000 | So, as an independent missionary, you may experience the occasional libelous campaigns against you,
00:29:47.000 | waged by those who seek to drive you out of the market.
00:29:49.000 | Well, maybe after this sales pitch, hopefully some readers will be interested in this very portable
00:29:54.000 | and highly rewarding profession.
00:29:56.000 | If you've approached my chapter with an open mind, you must admit my profession is relatively free
00:30:00.000 | of Big Brother confrontations and conventional restraints.
00:30:03.000 | It offers quite a few attractive advantages and fringe benefits.
00:30:07.000 | If you choose to make the first move, I will personally and warmly welcome you to the ranks of the independent missionary.
00:30:13.000 | To hear that you are seriously considering such a career move would be one of my greatest pleasures in life.
00:30:18.000 | I will never view you as a threat to my job security, or as competition for my fair share of the market.
00:30:24.000 | After all, if I haven't mentioned this yet, my product is free.
00:30:28.000 | Poindexter T. Omitzvah
00:30:33.000 | When you're in winter's favorite town,
00:30:37.000 | the snow-covered mountains surround you,
00:30:42.000 | a historic Main Street charms you,
00:30:47.000 | and every day brings a new adventure.
00:30:52.000 | Welcome to Park City, Utah, naturally winter's favorite town.
00:30:59.000 | Join the experience at visitparkcity.com