Every Day Here is a Priviledge

My former team leader last year here in Eden stated that "every day here is a privilege..." and that is so true. I have been honored to be able to live walk, meet, pray for, and share my life with people here in Eden who otherwise may never have met a Christ-follower. As I have been pondering this blog entry on how "every day is a privilege", I came across a letter written by Nate Saint, one of the five who was killed in 1955 by the Aucan tribe, this letter speaks to my heart:

Nate Saint's Christmas Letter (December 18, 1955)
“As we weigh the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that we should hazard our lives for just a few savages? As we ask ourselves this question, we realize that it is not the call of the needy thousands, rather it is the simple intimation of the prophetic Word that there shall be some from every tribe in His presence in the last day and in our hearts we feel that it is pleasing to Him that we should interest ourselves in making an opening into the Auca prison for Christ.

As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility.

Would that we could comprehend the lot of these stone-age people who live in mortal fear of ambush on the jungle trail . . . those to whom the bark of a gun means sudden, mysterious death . . . those who think all men in all the world are killers like themselves. If God would grant us the vision, the word sacrifice would disappear from our lips and thoughts; we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us; our lives would suddenly be too short, we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy with all our energies in the name of Christ. May God help us to judge ourselves by the eternities that separate the Aucas from a comprehension of Christmas and Him, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor so that we might, through His poverty, be made rich.” [Emphases mine]

Every day here in Eden is a privilege; the adventures, the homesickness, the assurance that tomorrow will be yet another non-ordinary day, the opportunity I have to stand in the gap for those who have not yet heard...there is no place I would rather be. I am honored to be here and count every day here as a privilege.

Earthquake: A lesson in being prepared

Since the Japanese earthquakes earlier this year, one of my friends made a point to have a small earthquake bag prepared in case there would be an earthquake here in Eden. So I also packed a small bag. But it is not always easy to prepare and as time goes on, you forget about your bag and it gets its contents removed as it is used for something else. Because by this time you just know that there will not be an earthquake any time soon. In many ways, I assumed that could have also been the pattern of the first Century Christians who were waiting Jesus' return--they had their "bag" (metaphorically speaking) ready; but as time went on and we moved into the second, third, and now twenty-first century the urgency to be ready has somewhat faded.

God brought this to mind this week by shaking the foundation here in Eden, literally shaking it up with a 5.4 earthquake waking me up at 7:30am with windows rattling, floor moving, and the building swaying. My first thought was: I need to get dressed--I need to get ready, but like the story of the ten virgins (Mt 25), you cannot get ready while something is going on--you need to be ready beforehand. And so after our first aftershock of 4.9 I prepared my earthquake bag again and took it with me to my next meeting where I experienced a 4.8 earthquake. It was at this time that talk was starting in the city, rumors were flying, and people were beginning to ask themselves how they could be ready for what was to be a 8.0 or 10.0 earthquake later that night. Many people fled the city, others (including myself) slept at friends' house who live on the first floor, and some merely made sure that from 9pm to 11pm (the time of the rumored big earthquake to happen) that they were outside away from their apartment buildings.

God was shaking things up, and it was not in vain. Throughout the course of this week I have been able to have amazing conversations with people about what it means to be ready and God laid on my heart to talk with friends who were over at my house about how we too can be ready not only for the "next" earthquake but how we can get ready for Jesus' return--and that it is only through accepting Him, having faith (not based on our works but based on what HE did for us), and making God our first love. God used this earthquake to teach us about how we too can prepare our "bag", our hearts, for Jesus' return. So...with my earthquake bag repacked by my bed, I ask you to pray that God continues to stir up hearts (I'm ok with no more literal earthquakes for the moment) and that He teaches us how we can be ready for His return--something that will effect the whole earth.