Tis the season

After I plug in my Christmas tree lights, make some Chai Tea "Nog" and sit down on my comfy couch, I decide to check in with one of my favorite missionaries- and see how he is faring in West Africa.

It seems like when you have been removed from a situation or place, you kind of become self centered (maybe not you, but I tend to) and think that here and now is what is of dire importance. The floods we've been having, the house needing to be cleaned, shopping to do (which I have boycotted this year, fyi.) etc. But whenever I read Kerry's blog, I am ALWAYS encouraged to see how God is working. Not only does it make me thankful that I got to take part in such an insurmountable task as sharing the gospel to Muslims in Africa, but that it does not hinge upon me to continue it. (Do my Calvin-like tendancies show in that last comment?)

Anyway, I am thankful for his pictures and constant testimony of how God is working in the "jungle" and the desert in W. Africa... That there is a need to know Christ and people are leaving their comfy lives and responding to that need constantly- working in the orphanages, living amongst the people in the villages, helping give aid in aspects of sanitary wells...

We had planned a trip to Burkina for our church in April/March of this next year. However, with baby Jackson only being a few months old, it kind of put the "kabosh" on that plan. I take great solace and encouragement when I read Kerry's blog to know that even though I can't be there right now- as passionate as I am about these wonderful people, that God still works.

Christmas is not known amongst the village people and these precious people in remote places... This is the case for much of the world (as Kerry also pointed out) and I appreciate that when and if they do come to know the definition of Christmas and all the hubub surrounding it, they will know it truly. None of it will be about Wal-Mart, Snowmen that sing and dance, krinkle ribbon, santa printed Saran wrap, malls, traffic, etc... But they will know that God came into the world as a human to live amongst a world that needed Him desprately.

Visit Kerry's blog for some more Burkina Faso "news".

Peace.

Stealing Kerry's Chesterton quote:

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?
~ G.K Chesterton