Dorothy Gale Syndrome: Do You Have It?

You remember Dorothy Gale don’t you? She was the girl in the Wizard of Oz. She left home to go with Professor Marvel to see the crowned heads. Dorothy wound up in another land and spent her stay there trying to get back home. She searched high and low for the way back, and when she finally got back vowed that she’d never go searching farther than her own back yard. Dorothy’s biggest problem was that she never searched in her own back yard to begin with.

Jesus told us, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). And I agree totally with Him; We are to preach the gospel in ALL THE WORLD! Did you know that you can not get to the whole world without going through your own back yard? Your neighborhood stands between you and every other part of the world. Yet, we struggle so hard with teaching those in our own back yards. In all of our areas there are hurting people, homeless people, hungry people, and people who have never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. Yet, for most of us it remains an unconquered mission filled.

We have no problem with sending money to support overseas missions. And, rightly so: we shouldn’t have a problem with it. But, by the same token we shouldn’t neglect the missions that are all around us. We have become farsighted: we can see all the mission needs afar off, yet our near vision is blurry at best. We need to get adjusted back to 20/20.

Each Sunday as we go to church and give money to be sent to far away missions we walk through, drive through and view some of the best overlooked mission fields. Are you like Dorothy Gale and realize that we need to look in our own back yards? Or, are you more like the “WIZ” and prefer to just “Ease On Down The Road?”

In Him,
Bobby
Bobby Cohoon
North Carolina, USA
cohoon@embarqmail.com