with gratitude...

Sitting at an email station in Bangkok, Thailand on our way home - and I am filled with tons of emotions (as always).

But let me express our gratitude - and then next week will be filled with many, many details of this project.

We want to express gratitude to:

>> Our families for allowing us to take part in a ministry that removes us from home several weeks at a time, several times a year. Thanks so much to Jan, Joshua, Jordan, Ellie, Shannon, Caleb, and Colton.

>> Our God - for calling us to this work, and for empowering us with His Spirit, so that, we are able to make a difference in the lives of sacrificial servants through the Spirit's guidance.

>> Our National Partners - what wonderful, loving servants of the King and His Kingdom. I wish each of you could know them as we do.

>> The Leaders who attend each project - thank you for having "beautiful feet" that run swiftly to share the good news to people who have no access to the Gospel. You continue to amaze us.

>> Our U.S. Ministry Partners -- thank you for providing the financial and prayer resources necesary to pull this off time and time again. You overwhelm us with your generosity.

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

David, Jeff, and Ed

darkness

In some countries electricity is not a "right" to be owned, but a privilege to enjoy when it is available.  Most westerners simply wouldn't understand if the power suddenly shut down (for apparently no reason whatsoever) and remained of for hours (or even days) at a time.

 

We would DEMAND to know WHY and "when is MY power going to be turned back on?". 

 

In Yangon, electricity is sketchy at best. Rolling blackouts are a way of life, and ordinary folks have no way of affording a generator or the fuel it takes to run one.

 

I was in room 304 at 7:25 pm when the power went off. The sun had set, so there was no outside light. It took the hotel staff four or five inutes to get the generator running.

 

TALK ABOUT DARK!  Even after 3 minutes my eyes had not adjusted - there was no source of light.

 

Then in that pitch-black moment, a sprtual reality hit me.  "This is what the people here face every day. Not just the lack of electricity - but the absence of  the Light."

 

My friend John wrote in one of his pieces, "the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." (NIV)

 

To be enveloped in darkness for four minutes is overwhemlming - the silence is like a tornado ripping through your soul.

 

Could you (and I) imagine living every day in utter darkness?  The absence of hope and the place of vacuum where there seemingly is no Power?

 

I hope you will find a dark place today or tonight.  Remember what it is like to be enveloped by darkness.  Allow that darkness to speak to you - and remember our friends here.

 

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

D