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!!