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LET IT SHINE

Luke 11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. [kjv]

Several people have asked me, “Why now? Aren't you a little old to be going back to a foreign mission field?” That is a reasonable question. Yes? After all, it has been seventy years since my mother conceived me. This post is an answer to that question. Lest I keep needing to repeat myself. LOL

God called me into foreign missions in the early 1980s. The verse He brought to light for me was Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” While I do not have a call to a specific country, as most missionaries claim to have, when I found out that one out of every four people lived in Communist China, I claimed my life verse (Mt.21:22) and surrendered to go there, trusting that God would stop me if He didn't want me to go. He did not. So, we spent a decade letting the light of our candle shine on that field to work that harvest.

Upon our return to the United States, I became embittered by the changes that I had seen come about in my sending church, became angry with God, and hid my candle under a bushel, backsliding back into the world for quite some time. I will not go into the ugly details here.

But herein is what I have learned through all of that. When one puts a candle under a bushel, if they really have a candle that is, eventually that candle sets the bushel on fire. When it does, the fire will burn even more brightly.

While God put my life back together, and I have been again serving the Lord wherever I'm at, I have always felt like I have not been fulfilling my call. Yes. I know that the United States is part of the world, and that there is no greater need for Christ in one place above another; it is still not going into all the world from my perspective.

How old is too old to get back to a calling? Is it foolish to want to finish the short time that I have left the right way? I can think of no greater blessing than to be called home from a place where I am supposed to be, and doing the work that I have been called to do in that place.

Please pray for us as we live and work in the Philippines.

Be blessed, brethren.

– TJ Lucas 

[ * May 24, 2026 ]