A LIFE FOR A TOE

We’ve all probably stepped on a stick and snapped it in two with our foot at some point in our lives. No big deal. …But try snapping a stick in two in your bare feet and it produces a harrowing experience. –Who would do that?

Now consider snapping a piece of two-and-a-half inch diameter bamboo with your bare feet and you are met with real danger, though not considered dangerous by experienced tribesman such as those we lived with in the rainforest of Papua New Guinea.

One day, some years ago, a young lady from our village crossed the mountain behind our home to tend garden as usual. A common practice, she snapped off a length of bamboo to use as a cooking vessel with her bare foot. Accidentally, a shard of bamboo sliced two-thirds of the way thru a toe. That’s a pretty serious cut in my book.

The young woman took traditional measures and tied a leaf around the wound with a piece of vine, then made the two hour walk back to the village. Imagine walking mud-laden trails with such a wound; fording rivers, ascending & descending tall cliffs in your bare feet, all the while carrying a string bag filled with garden produce. Life for such ones is no picnic.

This incident took place on Tuesday but we did not learn about it until too late Saturday afternoon.  The young woman died. Died? Yes, she died from a cut on her toe.

Had this woman come to our clinic we could have cleaned, sutured, and dressed it for her. But we were told too late, otherwise we would have gone to her home to provide care. She died because she thought it would be alright.

How many people do each of us know who carry the same attitude toward their eternal destiny?  –That they will ‘be alright?’ Life is fragile; we never know what it may hand us. We grieve for those who are blatantly opposed to their spiritual wellbeing, and more-so with those who have no chance to hear of Jesus.

Our motivation in mobilizing Harvest laborers on the home-front has to do with the fate of lost souls who otherwise will perish for eternity if we do not bring them the gospel. It is to this end that we serve to challenge God’s people with the task at hand.

A life for a toe.

How many people of the world slip into eternity over such a trivial matter? How many will perish without ever hearing of Jesus? It causes us to ponder how fortunate we are to have the gospel, Bibles, churches… Christian resources, when there are those perishing with no hope and without Christ. This is why we need you, our prayer partners and financial donors to assist us in rescuing the perishing.