The War Next Door
Daddy, I always thought that if I saw the Burmese soldiers come to our village, I would share the gospel with them. But, I didn’t do that...I ran away.” Saw Jayne hung his head as he was explaining to Roy what had happened in their village a couple of months ago. His family was hiding in the jungle, while He came to get supplies from us. He felt really bad that he had not had the courage to share the gospel with soldiers who were there to kill and destroy. But then he told Roy that since the village had to go into hiding, he was studying the Bible with many of the villagers. When people are faced with death, life looks different. People realize just how much they need God. Roy was able to reassure him that he had done the right thing. It is slightly difficult to share the gospel while avoiding bullets!
This past week, we went back to our old home to attend a missionary camp meeting. It was an incredibly precious time of seeking God together. We know how badly we all need the Holy Spirit if we are to do the work that God has brought us here to do. Studying together, praying together, fellowshipping together...It was a taste of heaven!
One day, as we were almost finished praying together, I heard a distant boom. After prayer, I turned to Jason, “did you hear that?” I asked. He had a rather sober look on his face. “I don’t know if it was a bomb or thunder.” Somehow, I think we both knew it wasn’t thunder. Our house there is 20 kilometers from the border of Myanmar, so we know that if we hear bombs from there, they are pretty big bombs. It is a very sobering sound when you know that many of your friends are in harms way.
Now we are home again...only 5 kilometers from the border, and we hear intermittent fighting all day and all night. It is hard to sleep through...maybe more like impossible for me! It is one thing to hear about a war on the other side of the world, but quite another to be within the possibility of a bomb landing on your house! I am not afraid of that happening, but I can imagine what it must be like for those who are getting shot at.
Life if short, and yet how many of us just live our lives only for self? One day soon we will have to answer to God for what we have done with our lives. Will we be able to show our Savior the many people we helped to know about Him? or will we have to show him our pile of rusted money, our burned up houses, and wrecked cars? I believe that if we take the time to look at life from God’s perspective, all those things that seem so important to us now would sink into insignificance. What really does matter is that we have lived our life in such a way as to bring honor and glory to the God who loves us so very much. Then, instead of shame and disgrace, we will have eternal joy!