Taking his cue from the JFK statement, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country,” the evangelist said, “Don’t ask God for a task that fits your ability, but believe that God will give you the ability for the task.”
He recalled a time when he was a youth pastor many years ago. As a project for the youth group, he assigned them the task of hand-copying the Bible! Surprisingly, they rose to the challenge and worked long and hard for 18 months, the Bible being divided into sections for different groups.
“It was amazing,” the former youth pastor said, showing us a newspaper clipping with the publicity gained by the unusual project, with the headline, “YOUTH GROUP COPIES BIBLE BY HAND”. “Sometimes in stormy weather when the youth group had gathered and the power went out due to snow and blizzards, they would work by candlelight, carefully writing on old parchment paper, just like the scribes of old.”
He described one girl who was particularly dedicated to the project. “She was short and thin, with long stringy hair and came to church whether someone picked her up or she had to walk.” He went on, “This girl had the sweetest personality ever, but with her freckles and uneven teeth, she couldn’t be called pretty. In fact, she was more than plain, she was ugly!”
“She was devoted to the task, though,” he went on. Then the evangelist’s voice broke. “And do you know where she is now, some 35 years later?” he asked. “She’s in the jungles of Peru, working with Wycliffe Bible Translators to translate the Bible into their language!”
Tears came to my eyes at the realization of this marvelous outcome for the young girl, who seemed to have little to offer in the eyes of the world. The evangelist said he was firmly convinced that God had given her the ability for such a task when she was faithful to the lesser task way back then.
Just today I have been so gratified to see the results of years of parents pouring into children and staying faithful to the Biblical injunction to “Bring up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” A beautiful worship song has been composed and recorded and put on the internet by a talented young man whose father was a worship leader in our former church for years. We knew the parents as a young couple who were devoted to serving the Lord.
Also, today, I viewed on the internet a wonderfully done, inspirational, dramatic video, created and directed by our youngest son. God has surely given to these young men the ability for the tasks of reaching people for the Kingdom!
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