November 9th, 2015

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Ponderings

Monday, November 9th, 2015

I messed up this past weekend. A least here at Cycleguy’s Spin. For some reason I spaced it and blogged over the weekend about my sermon. “Aaaaah wrong week Bill.” The sermon mentioned in this weekend’s blog is not until this coming weekend. We had a guest speaker this past Sunday. Will & Teresa Reed visited with us over a year ago and have since been in South Sudan. Due to the unrest they found themselves home much sooner than expected so we asked Will to speak and bring us up to date. He did a tremendous job. (Teresa was at  another church speaking). I’m going a lot out of memory with this but here some of what he shared:

They were in Mundri, which is a  “city” in the southeast part of Sudan.

Sudan has only known war something like 65 out of the past 80 years. They became the newest country in the world just a few year ago but then started fighting among themselves.

They have found the people of Mundri willing to establish relationships and be friends without expecting handouts.

They had to evacuate Mundri due to the fighting and have found the government forces to be the main culprits of looting and destruction.

The people of Mundri have been living in the bush off leaves, twigs and anything else to sustain life but still say, “God is good.”

They were living in conditions which were not “ideal.” I will spare you the market and bathroom stories.

So much more. But Will & Teresa can’t wait to go back. Their target date is January or February. I have always felt it took a special person to be a missionary. That thought was solidified. I am not ashamed to admit that while I found their story fascinating, even riveting, I have no desire to do that. I will support those who do but do believe being a missionary would fall under spiritual gift.

One other pondering which hits closer to home: I walked away more aware and grateful for what I have. Shame on me when I take God’s blessings for granted. Do you find yourself taking stock from time to time about the blessings you have?