I just made a life-changing decision

I love my job. Since May 2006, I have been working as a translator at the German central bank (Deutsche Bundesbank). This involves translating a wide variety of articles, letters, speeches, website material, Powerpoint presentations, regulations etc. from the various departments of the bank. Once I even translated a letter to someone in America who had just won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Sometimes there is more work, sometimes less, but in general it is pretty relaxed. I get a decent salary, plenty of holidays, flexi time, and have had several opportunities of travelling abroad for training. And I have great colleagues I get on very well with. So I am very happy with my job and very thankful for it. And I love the fact that my workplace is only a 30 minute drive from where I live and grew up.

However, this morning I handed in my notice and will leave my job in the summer. So why would I do that?

My reason for doing so will no doubt strike some of you as crazy...

I want to be trained to live and work among a people group that has yet to hear the good news of Jesus Christ that we read about in God's Word, the Bible. There are still many people groups that do not have God's Word in their own language and have never heard about Jesus and the love and peace and joy that He offers to the whole world. They need somebody ready to leave his home and family and friends and go live in a remote location among them, without the financial security and many of the modern conveniences we have to make our lives easier. This person would have to establish a friendship with them, learn their culture and language, devise an alphabet and dictionary and teach them read and write their own language (if it is an unwritten language), translate the Bible into their language, teach them the Bible and share the love of Christ with them.

That is what I want to do by God's grace and with His help (alongside a team of others). In September, I will therefore start studying at a Bible school n England.

It's a scary step for me to take, because I always want to make sure everything is safe and secure before I do something. But this time, I do not really know what exactly awaits me.

With these thoughts in my mind this morning, when I was sitting in the train on my way to work with fearful thoughts about resigning from my job, God gave me the following verse:

Do not be afraid ... for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 1:8)

These are the words that God spoke to Jeremiah when He called him to be a prophet to the nations and Jeremiah's initial reaction was "Who? Me?!? Who am I?" Reading this verse today brought tears to my eyes because I know how Jeremiah must have felt and I was reminded about how good God is to His children.

The older I get, the more I realise how short my life is. I'm here today and gone tomorrow. I don't want to waste it by living just for myself and my own pleasures when there is a world in need of God's love and forgiveness. I have experienced this love of God and I want to pass it on, trying to follow in the footsteps of Christ and live for Him. I believe that a life that is committed to Christ - even if accompanied by poverty, hardships and pain - is so much better and worth much more than anything this world has to offer. And I fully believe the words of Jesus when He said:

He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:39)

And if you are one of those who still think I am crazy, or if you are not sure, please talk to me. =)