Don't Waste Your Life

Before I ever left for Ghana, I saw this picture of a man named Tommy Harrison on the BMC blog site. He had a genuine smile on his face and dirt houses in the background and I thought to myself "That guy is loving life, I can't wait to meet him." When I got to Ghana, my first day I traveled with Tommy out to a more remote village for church on Sunday morning. In all my time with Tommy I was never disappointed. He is loving life, I am so glad to have met him.



Tommy is a retired man from Alabama. A good ol' boy who used to be a mechanic, farmed for fun and had little to no theological training apart from years of laymen service. Over the course of his life, he and his wife traveled to Ghana with the IMB for short term projects of 3-6 months at a time doing various maintenance tasks and what not. Sadly, ten years ago, Tommy's wife died of cancer. Rather than spend his life drowning in front of a television and mediocre time fillers he moved to Ghana full time with a whole new sense of purpose and direction.

These days Tommy simply lives in Nalerigu. Locals describe him as "Ghanian" and he can speak Mampruli with anybody. Tommy lives in a decent house with some comforts of home, but spends most of his nights on the roof open to the starry night and Malaria ridden mosquitoes. He spends his days working on several acres of farm land using his John Deere tractor to greatly enhance the food production for anyone that is willing to help. He travels back and forth to the Bible college a few hours away and helps with training native pastors and evangelists. He travels out to about 8-10 remote villages leading church services under the trees, counseling people, giving rides in his truck, delivering food. All this on the retirement that might not be enough here in the States.

Right or wrong is for your heart to tell. You want to know the absolutely happiest retired person I have ever met, well here is your answer. You want to know the safest, well don't talk to Tommy about how many times he gets Malaria every year. We aren't finding any better ways to save our lives here in America, we simply find new ways to die-Cancer, stroke, heart disease. Death is coming for us all. But Jesus promised a life that is truly life. A life found in loving him, that holds life in proper perspective and loves people while we still have the chance to do anything that will truly last. You want to understand the Gospel in a whole new light? Talk with Tommy for 10 minutes. You want all the answers, well keep looking. The answers to everything are not made in nice little packages. Each person is endowed by God with incredible ways to press into Him and trust as we step out into the darkness of uncertainty that following requires. When it comes down to it, what would you rather present to God with the last 20 years of your life-a sweet golf handicap, or hundreds of people that would have had NO other opportunity to hear the Gospel? Simple question with a million God-glorifying applications in between...

Keep pushin' Tommy.