Cool Refreshing Drink

Yesterday we hopped into the car and drove 2 hours to go see some very dear people.  David was my husband’s roommate in college and the best man at our wedding.  His wife Kate and I met at their wedding and have talked since then, but never got to hang out officially.  They have two beautiful and fun loving children also, right around the same age as ours.  Both David and Nathan are amazing dads who love their kiddos and have so much fun with them. 

David and Kate have a fun story.  They are both called to international ministry and were both called to a region of Asia and that is where they met and fell in love.  The funny part of the story is that they both went to the same college together, at the same time, and had never met.  And let me just tell you that the college that we went to is not a huge college.  It is a small little Christian college in the middle of nowhere KY.  God had to take them around the world to get them together!

What is awesome about them is that they have a complete and total heart for the Lord.  They are getting ready to head back out into the field, into this section of  Asia and share the gospel with these people.  There are whole sections of the world that have never heard of the love of God, of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made.  When these people hear and convert, their lives aren’t always better either.  They are in the minority – in certain parts of the world, Christians that are coming to God are being persecuted and killed for what they believe in. 

Then you look at America.  A land that was founded by Christians and based on Christian principles and we have completely lost that original drive and faith.  When someone here becomes a Christian, it is a fun time- there is celebration and then there are people all around that are willing to help them, take them along in their walk for Christ.  The problem is that since we don’t have the threat of being persecuted, it is so easy to become stagnant in our faith.  To just let it sit there and not do anything with it.  To say – yeah I am a Christian- and really, truly BE a Christian, but just be comfortable with it.

In the sections of the world that haven’t heard about Christ, when they become a Christian, their entire life changes.  They have to be willing to be physically and mentally persecuted for their beliefs.  When I was in high school, my senior project was on the persecution of the Christians in today’s modern times.  It is so easy to say, and really want to believe, that persecution of people for their faith, especially Christianity, doesn’t happen any more- but it does.  It actually is happening today, right now while we read.  So many of these countries will persecute those who accept Christ so when these people accept the Lord, they have to know what they are getting themselves into!

My goal is to have a faith that I am so passionate about, I am willing to die for it.  I want a faith like Paul’s (read ACTS).  I want a drive like all the disciples had- to share the good news with EVERYONE!!!  Our area needs just as much help as those that haven’t heard about the gospel across the world.  We have heard and are ignoring it or becoming too comfortable with it.  I don’t want a comfortable relationship with Christ, I want one that challenges me and makes me think and move and act.  How often, in today’s society, when we become comfortable with a relationship we “grow apart”.  We decide that we don’t see eye to eye any more.  Why do you think the divorce rate is so high? 

I don’t want to be the “lukewarm water” in the mouth that gets spit out (Rev. 3:16) - I want to be a cool refreshing drink for God that makes him say – now THAT is what I am talking about!  I know not everyone is called to international ministry- and that is just fine.  We ARE all called to ministry though (see post on “Am I in God’s Will?”).  For those that ARE called to international ministry though, we need to support them, financially would be great, but not everyone has a lot of money to share, so as long as you are praying with your whole heart for missionaries around the world, that helps just as much, if not more, than taking a pen out and writing a check! 

If you want information on David and Kate and their family and mission, I would love to share it with you, as I know that they would too.  They can come and speak at churches, small groups, Sunday Schools, etc… about this section of Asia that they are working in.  Please though – be sure to say a prayer for them and their family.  Please pray that they are able to raise the support they need to go back to the land they are called to and help with so much!  They work with home churches, orphanages, anti-human trafficking, and so, so much more.