Dear friends,
Computers and word processors fascinate me. Things like copying and pasting documents might seem routine to many people, but I find them remarkable. Smart phones also impress me. In recent years, several people have answered my request for directions by locating destinations on their cell phones. Yesterday, while driving with Pastor Brad to help friends in the church, I pulled out a book of maps and Brad said “You know, you can get those on your phone.” While I am slowly adding to my technological skill set, I realize that changes in the digital world are occurring as frequently as Olympic records are being broken.
Have you been watching the Summer Olympic Games in Rio? I have enjoyed watching many athletes record their best performances. Tonight, the 200 metre race will feature some incredibly fast runners. It is neat to see a burgeoning friendship between Usain Bolt and Andre De Grasse. Could the torch of “the fastest man on Earth” be passed to a young sprinter from Canada?
On Tuesday, Karen and I met a Christian couple and their four-week-old son named Elie. His name, which is French for Elijah, reminded me of the two men of God in the Old Testament named Elijah and Elisha. The mentorship of Elisha by Elijah is described in the Second Book of the Kings. In talking with Elie’s mother, we learned that she is from southern Mexico, where our friend, Lynn Anderson, is translating the Bible into the Mixtec language.
The personal journal of the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, William Cameron Townsend, has been preserved in “A Thousand Trails” which was compiled and edited by Hugh Steven, a friend of Townsend for many years. In it we read: “… as you read this account, you come to understand why God wanted this man to experience such hardship. He was one day to pioneer an organization that would require most of the young people who joined him to also experience long, hard, hot and lonely trails, and because he experienced such prolonged and extended hiking, he could therefore quite properly ask each of the young people who joined the organization to do the same. He had been there first.” As fascinated as I am with computers, I am more impressed by how God uses people like William Townsend to proclaim the glorious gospel and thereby bring many people into His kingdom.
Scripture for the weekend: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”Hebrews 4:15-16 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “He can be revealed only to the child; perfectly, to the pure child only. All the discipline of the world is to make men children, that God may be revealed to them.” – George MacDonald (quoted in the book “Where Is God When It Hurts?” by Philip Yancey)
By His grace,
Steve