The Christian life begins as the Spirit of God grants us recognition of our guilt, followed by a work of grace received by faith in the finished work of Christ. It is completed on this earth by the response of a life of gratitude, which in turn is a foretaste of the glory we will ultimately experience in God’s presence. Of that fourfold process—guilt, grace, gratitude, and glory—the part that is perhaps least understood and embraced is gratitude.

Decades ago, it used to be that interested people would ask about our “country of service.” But over time, the question morphed into “What people group do you work among?” For quite some time, the status quo for presenting the missionary task has been ‘reaching people groups’, or rather, reaching the ‘unreached people groups’ (UPGs). 

We were in our 20s, newly married, and fresh out of El Instituto de Lengua Española in Costa Rica when we began working way up in the mountain village of San José de la Montaña at Camp Roblealto.  On Sundays, especially, we missed gathering at one of our family’s homes for Sunday dinner back in the States. We reminisced about the big pot of sauce with sausage and meatballs, raviolis, salad, and bread from Modern Bakery in Lodi, N.J. Equally, we sometimes found ourselves craving a turkey dinner, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and potato rolls.