I tap this on an airplane, riding a 16 hour flight in the middle of the night.

I have slept next to none of it. For a variety of reasons.

I have spent much of this trip fighting jet lag, fatigue, exhaustion.

In turn, this means battling lower mental sharpness, fog, recall, poor decision making, grumpiness, introversion, and a general lack of charity.

I offer these as neither boasts nor excuses, but rather as simple reminders of the challenges we will face and the costs we will pay if the Unreached are to be reached.

This blog is not all peaches and cream.

Neither is it incessant research findings.

Research doesn’t work that way.

In any event research is my skill.

My workplace calling is as a Voice for the Voiceless, a reminder of the parts of the task not yet done.

In this I balance hope with…

Well, a sense of the darkness to which we must bring light.

So sometimes I reflect light and sometimes shadows.

In any event like Paul I write to say if you think this task can be done without paying any price, think again.

There are many prices.

I met one man who spent six months without his family, in a war zone, for the sake of the Gospel.

Others had friends hung up, beaten, killed.

Others spent time in jail.

I have not been in jail.

I have not lost immediate friends to martyrdom.

It may only be a matter of time, or not.

The passage doesn’t promise the strength to do whatever we choose, but rather whatever God sends.

That’s it.

There are prices to be paid, and I hope you find your task worth the prices.

But then that’s always the case, right? Why do something that’s not worth the price? Decide early on your race, commit to it, and run it well.