"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)
A few years ago I hosted a short-term mission team from Minneapolis, visiting our Prayer League family in Ecuador. The team was comprised of young people, mostly. They were energetic, good-hearted – and altogether naive about the complex challenges of cross-cultural mission. I shall never forget the experience.
I remember, in particular, an extraordinary event on our first night "in country." We had visited an orphanage just north of Quito, earlier in the day. Our Minneapolitans could not speak Spanish; the orphans could not speak English. But somehow we got along rather well. (A bag of tootsie-roll pops helped.) These were genuine orphans, boys mostly, many quite literally scooped out of the street. These were cast-aways and no-accounts. It is no exaggeration to suppose that many of them would have died, were it not for the ministrations of the orphanage. Our young people from Minneapolis "mixed it up" with these abandoned children, so unlike themselves. They bounced them on their knees. They gestured and laughed together for an entire afternoon.
That evening one of our team members experienced an emotional meltdown, as we debriefed the day together. She was, without doubt, one of the most articulate and sensitive members of the group. She cried in sobs that night and sank to the floor. I remember what she said between her sobbing. I think that I’ll never forget.
"If this is the way the world really is, then my life can never be the same."
This year we celebrate our 65th anniversary as an organization. For more than half a century, we have "mixed it up" here and there around the world. We’ve met thousands and thousands of people, so unlike ourselves. We’ve cried a little. We’ve laughed a little. And we have discovered some things about the world.
We have discovered that 1.6 billion people remain unevangelized. We have discovered that 334 million of these are found in heavily "closed" countries – where sharing one’s faith may cost one’s life. We have learned that approximately 65,000 of the world’s unevangelized die every day that goes by – without hope, and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). But we have discovered the Savior, too. We have discovered that he is faithful. We have learned that we cannot risk ourselves in mission beyond his wonderful ability to sustain us.
It is worthwhile to remember in our 65th year: this is the way the world really is. Can we ever be the same again?
"The Way I See It", January 2002
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