Comforting the Afflicted or Afflicting the Comfortable

My travels take me to many different parts of the world, but most of our work is in Third World Nations where the poverty and conditions make life very difficult. I have seen people living and surviving on so little that you wonder how they can do it. And yet one thing I have always noticed is that kids are kids no matter where you go in the world. They might not know where their next meal will come from, but they still seem to be able to make the best of the situation they find themselves in. I have seen kids with no toys, play with a stick and an old bicycle rim and have a great time.

Even though their lives are very hard, they seem to always have a smile when they see a camera. I love taking pictures of these kids, as they give one hope for the future with their positive little attitudes. They do not know what life is going to bring them, but they face it head on and make the most of it. This is why it is often times hard for me to come back to the US after one of these trips and hear people complaining about how tough life is for them here at home.

Sometimes even among Christians we hear these same complaints. We drive to church in our nice cars. We sit in our comfortable church buildings on our padded pews with heat and air conditioning and all the comforts of home. We sing from our song books, read from our Bibles and give an offering when the collection plate is passed. Some complain that the service was to long, or the singing wasn't what they wanted. While we sit in our comfort and often complain, other people around the world would love to have what we have.

I remember hearing a sermon many years ago intitled "Comforting the Afflicted, or Afflicting the Comfortable." I sometimes think that we need to spend some time letting our minds dwell on this statement. Christ came to comfort those who were afflicted, but I sometimes think today that preachers might do better to afflict the "comfortable" to help us to better understand what our purpose in life really is. It is not about how comfortable we can make our lives, but about what we do with our lives to touch others with the message of Christ.

We recently travled to Gorblee, Liberia to work with the church in that area. When we arrived I noticed their church building. They had put on some new palm fonds for walls. The roof was made of an old discarded United Nations tarp. The benches were made from split bamboo. Try sitting on those for two or three hours. Talk about afflicting the comfortable, it is hard to get comfortable on a bench like this, but the brethren don't seem to mind. They are just glad to be coming together to worship and thank the Father for the blessings of life. They walk for miles to come and attend the services and sit on benches that are not comfortable. They sing their songs from memory as they have no song books. They share the few Bibles that they have between them, as not everyone has the privilege or blessing of having their own Bible. How many Bibles do we have sitting on book shelves unused? They listen to the teaching and the preaching. They commune together with the Lord.

Perhaps one of the hardest things for me is to hear them sing songs like "Count Your Many Blessings, Name them One by One." How can they count their many blessings, when they have so few? And yet they sing the songs and they count their daily blessings. Having survived many years of war and hardship, each one of them knows that they truly are blessed by the Father. It is always a reminder to me of how blessed I am when I look and see their conditions. But it is all they know, so they sing from their hearts and give thanks from their lips for what they have and how God has blessed them.

Next time you sing the song, "Count Your Many Blessings, Name them One by One," stop and think what the Lord really has done for you. How He has blessed your life. And let us each learn to appreciate our comforts, but not to take them for granted. May God bless and use each one of us to His glory.

A Young Lady on an Airplane

Have you ever noticed how the Lord puts you where you need to be at just the right time? I have a pact with God to use me every day to reach out and touch lives. So I am never surprised at how people come into my life in such peculiar ways.

Take for instance, the young lady who sat next to me recently on a flight from Brussels back to Chicago. Her name was Carrie, 25 years of age, living in Stockholm, Sweden, but originally from Finland. She was amazing with a very unique story to tell. We talked for at least 8 hours out of a ten hour flight. She grew up in Finland, went to college, dropped out, worked a few years, moved to Stockholm, got a job and was now back in University part time. She had traveled the world in her young age and was on her way to the US, the Caribbean and Central America for a month's holiday.

What impressed me most was her "World View" on life. She was what we might call a New Ager, believing in a greater power, but more in tune with nature and the universe. She had never been in a church in her life. Had never opened a Bible to see what it had to say about her life. She did know a little about God and Jesus, grace and forgiveness, sin and consequences, but had no conviction about any of it. She was more of a "Karma" type thinking that if you do good, you will get good and if you do bad, you will get bad.

The more we talked the more I came to understand the mindset of this generation that no longer want religion and tradition, they just want to do their own thing. We talked about many things including the consequences of what one does with ones life. She admitted that she did need to look into this further and was curious about forgiveness of sin, about grace and mercy that Jesus offers to all. But she is young; she thinks she has plenty of time when she is old to look at these things.

I gave her my card, asked her to look at our website for free Bible lessons. Will she do it? I don't know; but I do know that God put me in that seat next to her to share my faith with her as best I could. He used me to touch her life. I pray that it will make a difference some day.

Let the Lord use you each day to touch a life and make a difference!

New Church Plant in Pujehun, Sierra Leone

I picked the AK47 bullet casing from the road side as a stark reminder of the many years of war that took place in this part of Sierra Leone. Our mission team had traveled to Pujehun, an area badly destroyed during the war. There was no church in this area when Michael Williams, a Policeman was transferred here several years ago. But he began to hand out WBS lessons to co-workers and at local high schools to try and reach out to this part of the country. His efforts were not in vain and many came to understand the scriptures and request baptism. But who could go to this distant place to assist these students? There were no funds and no preachers in that area of the country.

Brother Jacob Sessay, our country coordinator was contacted and asked to come to their assistance. He had no funds to travel that far, but God provides and Jessie and Kit Mullins sent funds to make it possible for Jacob to go to Pujehun. Once on the ground, he visited with many students and by the end of the trip, four had been baptized into Christ. But still no church was meeting in Pujehun.

Our mission team traveled to Sierra Leone in December with the intent of going to Pujehun and reaching out in that area. Our multi National team was made up of Gabriel Chea and Maxwell Whea of Liberia, Isaac Daye of The Gambia and Jacob Sessay and Mathew Garsua of Sierra Leone. We traveled the many hours of bad roads to get to Pujehun, but were so glad that we had come. We visited in the High Schools and spoke to many students. We campaigned door to door and held a Gospel meeting each evening in the town center.

God gave the increase and eleven more gave their lives to the Lord during our visit. We rented a house to use as a church meeting hall and to have a local WBS office in the town center. On that next Lord’s day we held the first services of the church in Pujehun and what a joy it was to have all 15 local Christians present as well as many visitors and our team.

This is proof that God still gives the increase, if we, His servants, will just do our part to share our faith. We are thankful to all of our WBS teachers that are teaching students in this area of Sierra Leone. Also for those that made this trip possible for us to come to Pujehun. What a life changing experience it was for us and for the people here. WBS teachers; keep teaching and keep reaching as you never know how much difference you will make in someone’s life. God gave the increase in Pujehun and we pray it will continue to increase.

P.S. One sad note to this story is that one of the young ladies, Juliana Fortuna, who was baptized on Saturday did not last long. On Sunday at church we noticed that she was very ill. I gave her funds to see a doctor on Monday. We got word on Thursday that she had passed away. In the Lord only 6 days and gone home to be with the Father. What a reward of faith!