Little by Little

After reading Deuteronomy 5-7 this week, we were reminded of the fairy tale about the goose that laid the golden egg. The story goes this way: A farmer, upon discovering a most remarkable golden-egg-laying goose got impatient about having to wait for the daily quota of eggs. He chopped off the goose's head to find the source of the eggs...and in a fit of impatience destroyed the very source of his prosperity.

"I want it all-and I want it now!" is the cry of the day, even among many Christians. But God is not limited by our impatient timetables. He gave the Israelites a principle for conquest which still applies today: "little by little" (Dt. 7:22). God's methods often take time. He could have given the land to Israel in a day, but instead He instructed them to move step by step, trusting Him each step of the way. God's way is not rush, rush, rush but little by little. Let us look for a small but significant step of growth to take today whether it is a verse to memorize, a command to obey, a promise to treasure.

Even as missionaries, we occasionally put the cart before the horse in our exuberance to expand a ministry, grow a church or train a new believer. Pray for us as we balance our personal lives, ministry and community outreach through the year. Impatience is a characteristic many of us lay claim to. May God deliver us from the "rush" and into his loving embrace.

Over the past month we have been sharing news about one of our wards from the Lighthouse Children's Home. Andrew continues to spend his afternoons in the Resource Centre learning new things on the computer, creating documents for school and utilizing his new found knowledge. Last week Sherry walked by him and heard strange words coming out of his mouth and was taken aback when she noted that he was trying to listen to and imitate greetings from other languages using Encarta. He would listen to a statement four times and then repeat it as if it was his own tongue. It is amazing what children pickup! Just the other day he went through some Bible stories and prepared a brief devotional for his friends back at school. We must admit that it brought tears to our eyes that he would think of the eternal destiny of his classmates and take time out of his own schedule to present a message of
hope and redemption to them. Praise the Lord with us for Andrew's current activities and interests. He is only 10 years old.

The Children's Church program has just begun a series on "The Word of God". This past Sunday Sherry taught a lesson on inspiration, the time frame involved in the writing and compilation of the scriptures, the uniformity of scripture and languages of the original scriptures. The children played that old game of "telephone" where one child starts off with a statement and it passes from one child to the next. By the time you get to the final person, the story resembles nothing of the actual initial statement. This exercise was to show the boys and girls why God wished to have His Word in written form as opposed to an oral format. Pray for the children as they learn more about how we came to possess the scriptures as we know them today and how God's Word has remained unchanged through thousands of years.

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf and those whom we serve. May you know God's richest blessing in the week ahead.

In His service,
Patrick & Sherry