My family used to be farmers. We lived on both sides of the Missouri River’s banks in Kansas and Missouri. My great grandfather is known for building the wooden bridge over the creek. The road in front of his land bears his name. As a child, doing things with my grandmother usually meant a visit to the farm, to plant, to reap or simply to chase or be chased by the chickens and the goats.
My grandmother eventually migrated South with the rest of the family. She sold the farm, and the county rebuilt the bridge. On that old parcel of land, there’s no trace of our family besides a name on a street sign.
We moved to Indonesia 10 years ago. As we discern God’s calling for the next 10 years of life and ministry, I’ve wondered if our work here is done and what trace will be left by our life and work in this country if called to serve elsewhere.
An accounting of the fruit God is bearing in this land brings us life and helps us to know that wherever we may find ourselves in the years ahead, we leave a significant trace of our presence.
Nearly a decade ago, I preached under a tarp in a jungle clearing. There was hope for a church in that place, but not much else. Last year, we returned to that village to install solar lighting on the church built in that clearing years later.
Illness precluded us from participating in a project in a rural village. Our team went forward. A year later, the church had doubled in size and one of the teenagers had given their life to ministry.
People of little to no faith have found faith in our community. Those of faith have found a sense of calling to live out their faith. Some have devoted their lives to serving Christ here and abroad.
An honorific, granted by years of study and research, has opened unimagined doors for dialogue. We have broken fasts, prayed over and mourned with people from a myriad of faith traditions.
The schools and communities where we have served or where our children are educated, we will leave for the better.
People have known us by our fruits, fruits that will bear seeds and more fruit in their time.
—Mike
Pray, Prayer, Ponder
Heavenly Father, may the legacies we leave behind us, whether it is moving from one place to another, or from this life to the next, be an ever-present lingering of the Gospel truth and love proclaimed in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pray...Give...Go.
