Skip to main content

Eight Days and Counting…What is Faith?

Maybe you hear this or even say this a lot: "I can't believe how fast the days are going by! It is already the end of …August."

I am having my own little moments of that. We now stand only a mere eight days before our departure for the Burundi mission.

When we started the Burundi outreach efforts in November 2008 and set September 2009 as the possible date for the Bujumbura Festival of Hope and conference, I felt that we had adequate time to pray, plan, fundraise, and execute the plans. The economic times then like now, were getting tougher and tougher for missionary fundraising. But with faith like a mustard seed, Suzanne and I hoped against hope.

One day, a mere couple weeks before the set date for departure, while speaking at a church in Southwest Minnesota, God touched someone to donate $ 5000. We knew God was confirming our faith. Eventually we managed to raise everything that we needed to lounge the efforts with Burundi churches (about $ 16,000) during that short space of time.

Ten months later, we stand on the brink of completion. I am totally blown away by God's faithfulness in the journey and I have no doubt that we shall see many souls brought to the Kingdom at the Festival of Hope. I am confident that many leaders- spiritual, business and political- will be equipped for Jesus at the conference. I am eager to preach the gospel of our Lord.

There is just one small obstacle: with just eight days to go, we still need $ 19,000 to cover the outreach expenses. Will God do it again?

That brings me to ask this question: What is faith?

Watchman Nee said this: Faith is like an invisible staircase. When you put forward your foot, you find solid granite (paraphrase).

There is the point: You have to put your foot forward even though you stand the danger of tumbling into the invisible abyss. Faith is trust that the invisible hand of God that beckoned you to follow will also provide and sustain you with its in-exhaustible resources. As we work and wait for God's provisions ahead of our departure next Friday, I am content to entrust Him with every remaining detail.

To you I would like to re-iterate the words of Corrie Ten Boom: Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. Any concern too great to be turned into a burden is great enough to be turned into prayer.

And yes, I can believe how fast the days are going by. It is already the end of August …in September we get to usher many Burundians into the Kingdom.

Speaking of Burundi, here is a sneak preview of one of our TV promos playing in Burundi. The language is Swahili J!Ubarikiwe na Yesu!!

Comments

  1. I like your faith hunny!!! Thanks for posting this. So encouraging.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Room in the Inn...21st Century Version

It is the Christmas season 2009.  Like Joseph and Mary 2000 years ago, a young couple are on the virge of the birth of their first baby boy.  Although they are doing everything to prepare for the big day, it still catches them by surprise.  Instead of the regular 40 weeks, the baby is arriving six weeks early. Because they are not expecting it this early, their bags are not packed nor is the nursery fully furnished.  Safe for an early morning warning in a dream to the father to prepare to be in a delivery room and with assurance (from the Lord) that it would be o.k, the day started off as any other day. At 6:00 AM, the couple prays together for about 40 minutes in their home in Victoria.  They take showers.  At about 7:30 AM, the husband goes to work briefly from his home office while the wife prepares something for their breakfast together. Within a couple hours they will have a routine prenatal doctor's appointment.  Later in the evening the wife's sister and her two beau

The Other Frontline in the Battle for Souls- By Suzanne Wanyonyi

I've learned quite a bit while Sammy's been away in India. Other wives have told me over the years, that when their husbands are gone for ministry for extended periods of time, the enemy tries to attack during the husband's absence by causing the garage door to break, or the toilets to break or the hot water heater to go out. So, from the very beginning of our marriage I anticipated those things and shared my concern about them with Sammy. He understood. We've always had a plan in case something breaks around the house while he's away. Well, none of those things have ever happened. Other things have happened.  During this latest mission, while nearly 80,000 people were being won to Christ, the attack came in a way I wasn't expecting: The kids. There were more than a few nights where I had about 2 hours of sleep because the kids kept waking up. With Malaika it's not so uncommon, but Junior has slept from 8-8 for as long as I can remember. He'

A Medical Doctor With a Passion for God, a Love for People, and an Enduring Faith

Our Mission in Kenya Continued well. He is humble, he is joyful, and he works hard to make a difference among a Kenyan rural town's community.  That is Dr. Nathan Matasi, a gynecologist serving in Kitale town, Western Kenya.  There are hardly any hospitals in this part of the world.  The one government operated hospital in Kitale town serves a population of over one million people from the town and the surrounding rural farm communities.  Sammy and Gary share a moment with Dr. Matasi next to a corn field in Kitale on Tuesday morning before heading out for the prayer service in Nairobi, some 400 miles away.  Here you will find patients sleeping on the floor in overcrowded hallways, pregnant mothers sharing beds, and daily lines forming at the out-patient unit.  There are hardly modern equipment available for the few qualified doctors and nurses to use for diagnostics or treatment.  Majority of the patients can hardly afford to pay for quality medical attention. Yet it is