“…but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:14
Two days of heavy rain in mid-July overwhelmed a lift station in our neighborhood causing untreated sewage to flood the basements of about 15 homes in our neighborhood, including the WMPL duplex where my family lives. During the four week clean-up and repair I noticed a fundamental difference in the interactions with friends, family members and insurance agents.
Insurance agents asked me “what happened?” I suppose there was some feeling of sympathy but the purpose of the conversation was to learn if this flooding event was covered or not. As I described what happened they were able to find out if the event was excluded under one of many policy exclusions. Friends and family members on the other hand asked “How can we help?” There were no pre-requisites for lending a helping hand. With heart-felt sympathy they inquired as to how they could help and then they went to work. I estimate that about 80 hours of labor were volunteered by 16 different people from WMPL and our church. Our home was restored to better than pre-flood conditions in a matter of four short weeks. We are so appreciative and thankful for this. Good business practice may require exclusions but thankfully the kingdom of God and good relationships do not.
Jesus has sent us out into the world to make disciples of all nations, no exclusions. There are no height or weight limitations, there are no minimum or maximum I.Q. requirements, there are no race specifications listed in the Bible. Instead all are invited to eternal life through Jesus with no exclusions. Jesus said that “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.” He does not ask questions of us trying to find out how we might be excluded from the kingdom of God but rather he seeks us, and has done everything possible to include us. All are invited to drink the water that Jesus offers, but not all know they are invited. That is why we continue to pray, work, and sacrifice together, so that the good news of the gospel may be presented to all those who need to know that they are not excluded from the Kingdom of god.
Financial Update
At the end of July we did not provide full allowances to all of our missionaries. After designated support funds were used up, we needed an additional $71,211 to meet full allowances. We used the entire general fund balance of $19,935 and an additional $32,769 from estate funds to bring minimum allowance payments to 65 percent of the target amount. Of our 50 missionary units, 17 received full allowance and 30 received the minimum amount. Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support!