In one month we will be returning to Dondo. Tickets bought, visa in hand, and ready to go! This will be our seventh year that God has allowed us this privilege to serve the people in Mozambique. It is not easy being away but it allows us to speak to churches and visit supporters sharing the needs and the ministry. Recently I have been reading a book by John Piper - "Risk is Right - Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It."
In our lives, we have a choice. As John Piper says, we can be like the Israelites who refused to take any risk and retreat into a wilderness of wasted opportunity. "We can coast through a cultural landscape marked by materialism, characterized by consumerism, and engulfed in individualism. Or we can decide that Jesus is worth more than this. We can recognize that he has created us, saved us, and called us for a much greater purpose than anything this world could ever offer us."
There certainly are moments of difficulty in leaving our children, our ailing parents, and the comforts of first world living. Or having to deal with the corruption, inconveniences, cultural barriers and robberies that are commonplace companions in this third world country. Risk means just that. The potential for loss.
Yet, when I think of the little Eva's that are dying of AIDS and abandoned, never having heard of God's incredible plan of mercy, love and redemption....I can't help but realize the greater risk is not to go. After all, my losses are temporal, her loss is eternal.
Pray for us as we return. And go with us.....through your prayers for those I write about on this blog. I am looking forward to what God has planned for us in Dondo this year!
