You Should Train Nationals

One summer Bernie May, once a JAARS pilot in Peru but now Wycliffe's U.S. Director, flew his plane from California to a meeting in Oklahoma.  He was called out of his meeting for an urgent call from Forrey Zander.

Forrey was excited.  He had met a young woman named Thangi from a large Asian country.  American missionaries are not allowed in her country.  Thangi had just completed her master's degree in communications.  Her father, a national missionary there, had asked her to pray about returning as a Bible translator. Half a million people in neighboring provinces speak twenty languages and dialects, most without the Scriptures.

Forrey suggested that Thangi apply to the Summer Institute of Linguistics.  She wanted to, but it was a week before the enrollment deadline and she was $1,000 short of having the tuition and fees.  Forrey had called Bernie to ask if he could find some money for this urgent need.

Packing Reflections

As Carolyn and I are busy packing our apartment, it is mind-boggling to think that a few months ago we had absolutely no idea where we would be living with our lease ending in May.  Now, here we are giving away everything that we do not need and condensing our lives to a few suitcases and storage bins.

If you have never condensed your earthly possessions to a few suitcases and storage bins I recommend against it.  In our previous moves we always had the option of packing one more box if we were unsure if we should keep something.  Worse case scenario we make a few more trips to the truck on either end of the move.  This time is different though, because we face the reality that we only have two suitcases and a carry on to take with us.  And we will not have access to that which we place in our storage bin on a regular basis – maybe once a year if we are lucky.

Step of Faith

Whenever I think of faith, the first image I picture is the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Indi needs to cross a chasm and it’s clear there is no visible bridge. He must step out onto the bridge; once he does it appears and he can continue across to the other side. If you don’t know what I’m talking about here’s a link to the scene on YouTube.

Indi had to take a literal leap of faith.  I’ve heard pastors say things like, Peter trusted Jesus, but the only way that was evidenced was when he took a step out of the boat, or if the Israelites were going to pray for the sun to stand still they needed to be prepared to march all night long. What they’re saying is, if you’re going to trust God to be faithful, it’s important to take action to demonstrate that you are believing he will provide.