Do Something Only God Can Do

Do Something Only God Can Do

Evangelizing the rich is very hard because we don’t clearly see our need.  That’s right, “we”!  Having lived in a country where the average person makes about $2/day, I’d say if you’re making minimum wage you are rich according to world standards.

And even when the rich (us) become believers, we end up living lives that look no different than anyone else.  We buy the same houses, the same cars...Oh, a friend...and he is a friend...a Christian friend told me the other day that God answered his prayer.  Great!  What’d you pray about?  He told me he had been praying for a particular kind of SUV and he got an amazing deal on it.  i.e. The $90,000 price tag maybe was cut in half or something.  Okay, I don’t want to box God in and I think he can be involved in every aspect of our lives, but...well, you can draw your own conclusions.

So, we’re a people who have an expendable income.  We have material possessions at our finger tips.  If we don’t have the money in hand, we can always use a credit card.  Nothing is withheld from us.  Nothing...material that is.  When we talk about needing Jesus, we merely add him to our ever-growing pile of stuff.  In missionary language, this is called syncretism.  People in other cultures do it all the time.  They thank the missionaries for telling them about Jesus and they put their cross or Bible on the shelf beside their other idols.

Do we really NEED God?  I mean really....do we depend upon him daily for food, shelter and clothing?  I think American Christians have separated the need for physical things from salvation.  We seem to think we understand that salvation is all about where we’ll spend eternity and having some sort of inner peace.  The Christians living in other parts of the world understand their new found faith as a reason to live NOW!  Many see miracles happening right in front of them.  People are healed.  Food is put on the table when there seemed to be no hope.  Family members are delivered from death squads.  And even when prayers for deliverance aren’t answered in the way they want, they understand about a God who is in control anyway.

Have we ever lived like this?  Did we ever attempt something that we knew was humanly impossible with our current resources, talents and circumstances?  Most of us haven’t.  We live very practical lives, saying the cursory prayer before our meal and we miss out on the many ways that God shows up all over the world.  I believe God is just waiting to do amazing things in our lives if we will give him the opportunity.  Actually, He doesn’t wait for us to ‘get it’...He’s moving anyway.  That’s when we just need to open our eyes and watch for God-sightings.

Right now, my life feels rather chaotic.  Tracy and I are struggling to make ends meet, with two kids in college and each week we pool our resources to pay our bills and other expenses.  In the midst of this, Tracy feels that God has called her to go to Papua New Guinea to minister to the missionaries there.  “How can she consider doing something so outlandish when we’re having a difficult time here at home?”  Some of you are thinking that I know it.  Anyway, we both realize that unless God makes this happen, it’s a waste of time.  But it’s also an opportunity to see God work.  It’s a step of faith.  

My plan was to stay home and continue working because we are very dependent upon my income.  Well....last week I got an email from Rain Forest International School...the school I taught at in Cameroon....asking me to speak at the High School Retreat in February.  How ridiculous!  Do you realize how much that’ll cost?  It’s very impractical.   Unless, this is God’s idea and He has a way to make it happen.

So, I told them I would pray about it for a week.  Frankly, I started off the week rather doubtful.  I really didn’t even want to go.  It felt irresponsible to even consider it.  But of course that’s how I felt the first time we went too.  Over the course of the week I didn’t sense any change until Saturday.  That’s when the thought came to my mind that a step of faith is doing something that only God can do.  Only He can raise the necessary funds.  Only He can supply my family’s needs when I’ll be missing two weeks of work.  And only He can give me the words that these kids need to hear.

As of today...actually 20 minutes ago...I believe I’m supposed to go to Cameroon in February.  Stay tuned for how God is going to make it happen.  I’m on the edge of my seat.