Church visits and thin places
Being back in the states this year has opened our eyes to the faithfulness of God’s people in so many ways. We live a weird life. Our paycheck comes from churches and individual Christians. Our bills are paid by the generosity of others. When we first started walking this path of overseas ministry I had a mental image of our family standing in tattered clothing, gathered around a fire drum with a hat in fingerless-gloved hands outstretched asking passersby to “spare a dime”. Our children would be waif-like thin with smudged dirty faces and shoulders drawn inward. Their eyes would reflect a painful vulnerability that comes from abject poverty. This image, straight out of a Charles Dickens novel, lent a sense of shame and timidity towards fund-raising. Then one day God spoke to me in the midst of a prayer soaked in fear and loathing of having to ask others to join with us in support of starting the mission aviation program for Bongolo. God ...