My first summer volunteering on a vegetable farm, I harvested a lot of Swiss chard and was forced to leave a field of heirloom tomatoes to rot because we didn't have the people power to pick them. That fall, I read and discussed Matthew 9:35-38 at a retreat and for the first time, I felt pain in my gut at these words,
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
My experience helped me to understand in my being what God was saying.
As a Navigator, I am a disciple-maker: one who teaches others to follow the way of Jesus. As a Christian, I am a steward: one who does well with what has been entrusted to me. In Genesis 1 we read that humans were given responsibility of the earth. It's a drastic simplification, but at some levels, this is what Christian faith boils down to: to make disciples who do what Jesus has told us. From my reading of Scripture, part of what God instructs is to care for His creation.
Our lived experiences shape what we care about and part of what I believe God is calling me forward into is to help facilitate experiences for people to encounter Jesus as they spend meaningful time in His world.