By God’s grace, this year we have been able to feed hundreds of hungry families and given away thousands of Bibles and tracts to spiritually starved people.
Notice what I just said: I referred to two kinds of hunger or starvation. One is where you lack food for your belly, and the other is where your soul is famished for the Word of God!
I’m here to tell you that many, if not most, Peruvians seem as excited to receive God’s Word as they do to receive groceries or a small financial gift. I’m not sure that would be the case in most of the Western world.
Let me give you just one example from Peru…
I met this one special young man, slightly handicapped, while sitting at a busy intersection where he was polishing car windshields for tips. After he finished, and I had given him a bit of cash and a New Testament, he excitedly told me that he too was a Christian. We shared a few brief moments of friendly fellowship and then the light turned green and traffic began to rumble on.
As I drove away, I looked back in my rear view mirror, only to see him with hands raised to the sky, pumping his fists like a basketball player who had just hit a game-winner, jumping up and down for joy!
Why was he so happy? Well, I don’t think it was the dollar or so I had given him. The kid loved Jesus and, in spite of his tough situation, was simply excited to meet a like-minded friend who shared his love for the Lord.
I rarely cry, but my eyes immediately welled up with happy tears as I drove away, thankful that we’d met, and hoping that we’d get the chance to meet again.
That was my favorite of dozens (maybe hundreds) of similar experiences this year. Scroll through this blog for more.
But let me change the subject just a little as I bring this Thanksgiving Reflection to a close…
If the following story by the famous Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who languished in a Communist prison for 14 years in the 50s and 60s, doesn’t encourage you to be truly, deeply, grateful this Thanksgiving, nothing will…
The vile, greasy smell of the soup preceded its arrival in the cell. Shreds of rotten cabbage and unwashed offal (intestines) floated in a scum. But to eat was a duty and I emptied my dish.
“How can you?” asked [my Muslim cellmate], whose stomach had revolted.
It was a Christian secret, I said. “I think of St. Paul’s words ‘Rejoice with those that rejoice.’ Then I remember friends in America who are now eating grilled chicken, and I thank God with them as I take the first mouthful of soup. Next, I rejoice with friends in England who may be eating roast beef. And I get down another mouthful. So, by way of many friendly countries, I rejoice with those that rejoice—and stay alive.”
The [Muslim] and I had to share a bunk through the hot, stuffy nights. I was lucky not to be on the floor.
“You lie very still,” he said as others coughed and fidgeted around us. “What are you thinking? Does St. Paul help you now, too?”
I replied, “Yes, for now I rejoice with those in the West by thinking of their comfortable homes, and the books they have, the holidays they can plan, the music they hear, the love they have for their wives and children. And I remember the second part of the verse, from the Epistle to the Romans, ‘And weep with those that weep.’ I am sure that in the West many thousands think of us and try to help us with their prayers.
Oh, Lord, may it be so with us! Although, how easy it is for us to rejoice in our own blessings and neglect to weep with our brothers and sisters who are suffering.
Pastor Wurmbrand is now with Jesus, but there are still thousands like him today in places like China and Iran and North Korea. The least we can do is add a heaping helping of intercession to our Thanksgiving spread, fulfilling the command in the book of Hebrews:
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them.”
We are one Body, whether in a Chinese jail, polishing windshields at a Peruvian stoplight, or at our dining tables on Thanksgiving Day in the middle of the USA.
