Take a moment to read this...

Here is a very convicting and challenging quote that I came across today from New Testament scholar D.A. Carson. Take a few moments to read this and then ask God to help you to live it.

"God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He more greatly delights in the integrity and purity of his church than in the material well-being of its members. He shows himself more clearly to men and women who enjoy him and obey him than to men and women whose horizons revolve around good jobs, nice houses, and reasonable health. He is far more committed to building a corporate “temple’ in which his Spirit dwells than he is in preserving our reputations. He is more vitally disposed to display his grace than to flatter our intelligence. He is more concerned for justice than for our ease. He is more deeply committed to stretching our faith than our popularity. He prefers that his people live in disciplined gratitude and holy joy rather than in pushy self-reliance and glitzy happiness. He wants us to pursue daily death, not self-fulfillment, for the latter leaders to death, while the former leads to life."

Without Words Wednesday

It's Worth It

Though we are extremely excited about our new ministry and what God holds for our future it would be a lie to say that the last two weeks have not been hard. It has been tough saying good-bye to dear friends. It was not easy to take most of our possessions to the auction to get rid of them. It was difficult finding a new home for the dog that your kids grew up with. These have indeed been challenges for us.

I was talking with one of our children this week and they were honestly telling me how hard all of this was. And I could totally relate to what they were saying because I was feeling all of the same things. But then we together tried to get God's perspective. And we talked about how glorious it is to share the Good News of Jesus among a people who have never heard. We thought about the worth of the people of southern Senegal in the eyes of God. We discussed the precious treasure that is the Gospel and how God delights in us giving it away. In the end we were reminded that it's worth it.

That has become our family's slogan over the last week: "It's worth it." Because it reminds us that no matter what the sacrifice may be, in light of eternity and the Gospel and the unreached peoples of the world, it is all worth it. With that perspective it begins to feel like less of a sacrifice and more of a gain. And that frees us to do hard things with joy.

Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."

Without Words Wednesday

"Moving is Hard" - by Thea

Anybody can figure out that moving is hard. Everybody knows that. Especially for an eight year old girl who has spent five years of her life in Jerome, Idaho and suddenly she's moving to a whole different continent.

So what does she think?  She thinks that she has been given the opportunity of a lifetime, but she thinks it is going to be the hardest thing of her life. It turns out that girl is me.

Since reality is real what are we facing? We are facing hundreds of people dying each day without hearing the name of Jesus once. We are facing kids dying from diseases every day with not one word of the Gospel.

Some people are called to go, some send, but everyone is called to do something. I know it's hard to go and to send, but that is called sacrificing. And that's what we need people to do for us: pray and be a sender.

Thea Boyd - eight years old

Without Words Wednesday

"Why didn't you come sooner?"

One of my missionary heroes is Hudson Taylor the missionary pioneer to China. I love reading of how he trusted God to do great things in his life and among the millions of Chinese that had never heard the Gospel.

One story that stands out from Taylor's life is the conversion of Mr. Ni a former Buddhist leader. Ni came to one of Taylor's meetings in the city of Ningpo and heard the Gospel for the first time and was amazingly converted to Christianity. Mr. Ni then became a fervent student of God's Word and a valued assistant to the Gospel work that was going on in the area.

One day while Hudson Taylor and Ni were talking Ni asked, "How long have you had the Gospel in your country?" Taylor reluctantly replied, "Some hundreds of years." Shocked at this new revelation, Ni exclaimed, "What! Hundreds of years! My father looked for the truth and died without finding it. Why didn't you come sooner?"

Those words were unforgettable to Hudson Taylor and they deepened his resolve to seek to bring the Good News of the Gospel to the millions of Chinese who had never heard. The Apostle Paul had that same resolve and spoke of the Gospel as a "stewardship" for  those that had it. A wise steward of the Gospel not only clings to it as his treasure, but he is also zealous to give it away to those without it.

The great theologian Carl Henry said, "The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time." And for most in our world today the time is very short. May we never hear the words, "Why didn't you come sooner?"