September 26, 2016

Dear Grandchildren,

Wow! What a wonderful summer it has been. The new babies, the weddings, and the announcement of future weddings. It’s been a celebration summer for our family.

This week someone made a statement and I would like to pass it along to you. His statement was: In America, it seems that people call themselves a Christian, but it’s only lip service without any real commitment to living out a life of faith.

Of course I had to agree with him. You see in America, in spite of our problems, we have a pretty good life compared to the rest of the world. It’s very clear when you travel to other countries, you see people struggling with the lack of basic needs.

For example, we enjoy the basic things in life. Freedoms and rights, education, basic food, clean water, health care, safe communities, and available jobs if you really want to work.

It was fourteen years ago this month that I made my first visit to Nigeria with Clarke Coleman. It was my first experience of preaching in a community crusade, and God gave us grace and favor as we shared Christ with the people. I loved the people of Nigeria and that’s why I have continued to go back so many times.

While in Nigeria, there was concern for our health, regarding the water, and coming down with malaria. I slept in a net as protection from mosquitoes and didn’t have a shower for ten days. The roads were filled with potholes and I only had communication with Grandma once during the ten days. On the last weekend, we escaped being robbed as we left the crusade returning to the place we were staying. I could provide more examples, but you get the picture that we were praying constantly for basic things in our trip.

The point here is that as Americans, we can enjoy and have access to the basic things in life without God. With all my basic needs met, I’m more concerned with whether my favorite sports team won than having a relationship with God.

It’s very hard to comprehend a world outside of America where:

•      A child in the world dies every 5 seconds from hunger-related causes
•      26,575 children die everyday because of poverty
•      5 million people die each year of water-related diseases
•      2.6 billion people or 40% of the world’s population earn less than $2.00 a day
•      Life expectancy in America is 72-78 years of age; in Africa, it’s 47 years
•      You don’t have any doctors, hospitals, or medicine where you live?

(Facts from World Vision)

I could go on and on, but we all get the point–we have it pretty good compared to the rest of the world and it’s very easy to take life as we have it for granted.

So what are you trying to say, Grandpa?

Realize it’s very easy to leave God out of our life when our basic needs are being met. So, it’s important to keep your connection with God. Praise Him for all that He has blessed you with and respond to the needs of others in your life and in your world with compassion. Realize your relationship with Jesus Christ is the main focus for living out a life of faith.

Dear Grandchildren, I write this letter not to have you feel guilty of what God has blessed you with, but to inspire you to live a life of praise and thanksgiving, honoring Him and being a blessing to others in His world. How do we do this? By practicing the Golden Rule: Doing unto others as you would want them to do unto you. I believe that’s where we can start if we want to make a difference for Him.

Let me know what you think. Many of you are back to the fall schedule with many are back to school — so, study hard! And together, let’s make a difference in His world.

Until next month,

Love,
Grandpa

P.S. At end of our trip, we flew back to Florida from Nigeria and I was scheduled to fly up to Traverse City the next morning. Since we were at the airport, I asked the lady at the ticket counter if I could fly home that afternoon and evening. She kindly said, ”I can get you back to Chicago, but your Traverse City flight will have already taken off.” I decided to fly to Chicago and take my chances. When I got to Chicago, the Traverse City plane was held up because of a window wiper repair and I made my flight to Traverse City. I was blessed and knew I received His grace and favor that evening.