o for a thousand tounges to sing

Today I was brought to tears as I sat under the intense testimonies of two Haitian orphanage pastors, as they spilled out their burden for the lost in their homeland. Charlenor remarked that the reason the children of Haiti are in such an unruly predicament is easily traced back to the sin of their fathers, grandfathers, and ancient ancestors. He is absoultely right. For generations, the people of Haiti have refused Creator God and have faithfully pursued the craftiness of voodooism. The children that darken the doors of that orphanage are under a generational curse... that is simply spelled out for us in scripture. An appropriate fear of God has not been instilled in the lives of those children, so of course they cain't see right from wrong or righteousness from sin. This sad reality is where the vision arose for these two men to reach Goniaves with the Gospel, and it is precious to hear about. Their strategy to begin instilling the fear of God and the blood of Christ in the lives of the abandoned children is encouraging. To see a calling practically unfold... to watch a generation of brand new creations rise up and change the lives of Haitians forever... this is missions. So many people have such an inappropriate idea of what missions is. They think they've arrived when they "sacrifice" for a week without an air conditioner. Sure.. building bunk-beds, acting out the gospel in puppet shows, and doing VBS in third-world countries are effective avenues for reaching the lost. But they should never be the goal, ever. Rather, to take the sweetest story of redemption ever told to a people who are unfamiliar with it... and to train them how to take what they've experienced to their people, and to their people's people, and to their people's people, all the way to the ends of the earth. This was God's plan for missions. Not for white missionaries to try to Americanize the nations. May we always yield to these convictions and live obediently in teaching all tounges and tribes to trust and love Christ.
God's call on my life to do this very thing excites me to no end. Today, and again, my heart knows confidently that this is what my life will look like all of my days on earth.