The Faith of a Child

In a world in which the media seems to concentrate only on 'bad news', it is good to read a positive report. This story arrived in my mailbox, earlier today. Read, and rejoice!

The story was written by a doctor who worked in Central Africa ...

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labour ward but, in spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous draughts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool in which the baby would be wrapped. Another went to stoke up the fire, and fill a hot-water bottle.

She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). "And it is our last hot-water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no stores down forest pathways.

"All right," I said, "put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot-water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God" she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead so please send it this afternoon."

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen". I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything - the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.

Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly coloured, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out - yes, a brand-new, rubber, hot-water bottle. I cried.

I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!

Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot-water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon."

"Before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24)

Yesterday's methods don't work as well today!

I've been watching some athletics on the T.V. I was particularly interested in the pole vault. Attention was being given to the special pit into which the vaulter could place the end of the pole. He was using a flexible, probably carbon-fibre, pole with an amazing 'springiness'. He was wearing tight-fitting clothing that would have cut down air resistance. He had a very deep foam base on which to land - presumably providing increased confidence in the knowledge that no bones were likely to be broken.

I thought of some other sports, and the ways in which equipment has improved, dramatically, over recent years. A team of Dutch cyclists had spent the night camped beside us. Their cycles had very narrow tyres, and very light frames. They were each wearing skintight-fitting clothing, and a helmet that would provide greater confidence of limited injury in the case of a fall. I recalled reading that champion cyclists ride machines that have carbon-fibre frames, and spokeless wheels that are so narrow one could almost shave using the edges!

It made me wonder if the constant breaking of records has, in some sports at least, as much to do with improvements in equipment design and technology as with the actual physical fitness, and prowess, of the athlete involved! And I realised that no modern athlete would continue to compete in, e.g., knee-length flapping shorts, and with a fairly rigid pole for the pole vault. Anyone who did would certainy be unlikely to break any records!

My thoughts turned to the Body of Christ - the Church on earth. I thought of the exploits of people like Paul - travelling around so much of the Mediterranean world of his day, on foot, or by small wooden-hulled ship, in a long flowing robe. I thought of the writing that he accomplished - by hand (or, at least, by the hand of his amanuensis/secretary), on parchment, with home-made ink. I thought of later disciples of Jesus - of Hudson Taylor in China; of Clive of India; of Mary Slessor in Africa; of David Brainard in North America; of countless others who risked life and limb in the most diffcult circumstances - who carried the Good News of the salvation that is available in Jesus, the Christ, to the uttermost parts of the earth.

They achieved much, with limited resources, low technology, poor transport. And what of today?! Even where the church is seeking to continue to fulfil the Great Commission (Matt.28:18-20 - and never leave out v.18!), is it not true that so many do so using last century's technology? "Let's have a mission! We'll invite a well-known (to Christians!) Christian speaker, and we'll hold meetings every night from Monday to Friday, at 7.30p.m. We'll put out 5,000 invitation leaflets in a massive door-to-door exercise, and we'll place an advert in the local newspaper."

Sixty, fifty, even forty, years ago that would probably have been a wonderful way in which to propagate the Gospel. People didn't live in centrally-heated, fully-insulated, homes with 24/7 television displayed on 54" plasma screens; broadband internet connections; DVD players; electronic games - and with a car outside to transport them to visit friends, or just down to the local pub, in relative comfort, even in the foulest of weather conditions.

Today, that's the sort of competition that the church faces! Not in every case. I know. There are many families in which the picture that I have just painted is only a dream. But for a vast number, the thought of going to a church building, to listen to even the most gifted of speakers talk for forty minutes in between the singing of songs that are meaningless to them - yes, even the majority of the best of modern songs that I love to sing! - among people who, if my experience of visiting some congregations/fellowships is any guide, totally ignore them anyway, is about attractive as the thought of using the clothing, equipment, and technology of the 1950s would be to a modern athlete.

That is one reason why I maintain this blog site. I actually reach more people in an average week here, than do many clergymen in a church setting! And, of course, although I have my regular, and faithful, visitors (for whom I am very grateful); and although a fair number of people have set up an RSS feed so that each post goes directly to their e-mail Inbox (and they, also, are very much appreciated), I also have a considerable number of visitors who simply find the blog through a search-engine when they are seeking information on a particular topic that I have placed as a key-word for a post. And some of them become regular, and valued, visitors - and even 'followers'!

I find it interesting to speculate on what the top athletes of a former age might have achieved if they had had access to today's sporting technology. I find it even more interesting to speculate as to what Paul, or any of the other great missionaries and church leaders of the past, might have achieved if they had had access to today's communications technology!

May the church as a whole - and not just the few honourable exceptions - use the technology that the Lord has provided, to effectively spread the Gospel message in a technological age, that many might hear, and believe; and that the Day of His return might be hastened. When the Lord Jesus told His disciples that they would be "fishers of men", I'm certain that He expected them to use appropriate bait!