#wycliffewednesday #sigosherts
Yesterday, as I read to my kids out of a book called Tales from the Tribe, I began to tear up. My kids always love it when this happens. I read something touching or sad and my voice catches and I see their little eyes look at my face with anticipation for the tears that may come. I don’t like the attention, so I try to pull myself together as quickly as possible. Most times I can. Not yesterday. Nope. The tears began to flow and they would not stop.
We were reading a story about Blaze, a man from a Patpatar village (in PNG). He heard the good news of the gospel and it changed his life, but his life did not turn out the way you might be tempted to think. Oh yes, the joy was there, the peace, the hope, but Blaze got throat cancer. It started off small, and slowly grew. First it was just annoying, but then it began to affect eating, then drinking, and finally, breathing. Before he died, the author of the book, Aaron Luse, told him he was writing a book and asked Blaze if he would want to share anything when Aaron told his story. Blaze said, “From the time I was a little boy until I became a man, I tried to follow all the rules to make God happy, but now I see that I was fooled. I was afraid to die then, because I didn’t know what would happen to me. Then the missionaries came and learned our language. They taught us, and I finally understood the plan God had for the road back to Him. It is the work of Jesus. I am sitting down safe in Him. My body is wanting to die, but I am happy, because I can’t be taken away from God. We have the truth now in our talk, but there are other tribes in Papua New Guinea that don’t. They don’t know the road. They don’t have it in their talk. They don’t have missionaries like we do. Tell them to send more missionaries so that those people can hear the message and go to heaven where I am going soon.”
The author goes on to say that the last weeks of Blaze’s life were miserable, but somehow he never lost the joy from his new life in Christ.
So inspiring! As I sat at the table taking it all in, his story and the hope he had in Jesus, the plea for his people and other people groups near him to get God’s Word in their “talk,” I couldn’t help but be moved to pray, “Lord, here we are, send us!”
Later I read the following article from Wycliffe about L. L. Legters and his place in Bible translation, and the generations of his family that continue to serve God:
https://www.wycliffe.org/blog/posts/four-generations-of-missions
It is so important that we, as parents and grandparents, truly grasp the importance of imparting on our children and grand children the love of God’s Word. It is also important for our children to know about the needs of other people groups in the world, their need for missionaries and God’s Word in their “talk”. When I am tempted to feel like my day holds no significance I need to remember that everyday is a building block in my kids’ lives. Brick by brick I build in them their foundation of faith, hope and love. I open their eyes to the needs all around them, so that they will be aware and hopefully available to God for his use, in whatever way God has created them to be. I also trust that the seeds I plant will bare fruit for generations to come. To God be the glory.
