But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
-- Acts 1:8
I just awoke from 12 hours of sleep, a four-hour power nap in the middle of the day followed by a full eight overnight. That's well short of Rip Van Winkle's record, but it's the most sleep I've had in a long time.
The reason? We've just returned from a weeklong journey "to the end of the earth." In this case, it was the Intag Valley of Ecuador, one of the most remote, geographically beautiful, economically challenged, and spiritually lacking places in the whole world. The team from Lake Hamilton Baptist Church consisted of Jeff Bonds, Cindy Courington, Joel and Katy Depue, Tom Jones, John and Natalie Morgan, and me. Natalie did not travel with us, due to an illness at the last minute, but she served as our chief prayer partner and encourager.
The river that runs through the valley is as pretty as a picture and polluted as a potty. To address the people's need of clean drinking water, we brought, demonstrated, and gave away over 40 water filtration systems. In homes and schools, we would take a bucket of their water, add a cup of dirt, then filter it to make it more pure than any tap from home.
Our primary purpose in going, of course, was to offer them the living water of the life-changing, soul-saving Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The water filtration process proved a perfect illustration of how sin corrupts, Jesus saves, and the holiness God requires can be found. We preached and taught in their schools and a village church, too, to reach the lost, equip believers, and glorify God.
As a Christian, I felt the joy of fulfilling God's great commission. As a pastor, I felt great joy at watching faithful members of our church pour themselves out in love and labor for the people of that country. As a grumpy old man, I can complain a little about aggravating my arthritis, battling bugs, and wrestling with the vengeful ghost of Montezuma, but it was more than worth it to come back with a full heart and a peaceful soul.
The Lord has called every Christian and all of His churches to bring the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. All of us can at least pray regularly for long-term missionaries and short-term missions trips. The vast majority of us can give financially to support such people and endeavors. And once in a while, a few of us get to go to the fields, ripe for harvest. Sometimes it takes us all the way "to the end of the earth."
Chuck DeVane is the pastor of Lake Hamilton Baptist Church. Call him at 501-525-8339 or email [email protected].