What words do you think just do not belong together?
George Carlin famously cited “jumbo shrimp,” among others, in a monologue about oxymorons. (Did you know oxymoron is an oxymoron? It’s Greek for “sharply dull.”)
This week I’ve run headlong into two words that really should not be together. They’re not an oxymoron, but they are scary: Idaho January.
Yes, this week I received my itinerary for a trip to Idaho in January. Sandpoint, Idaho, to be precise, where the average low in January is 18 degrees. It’s 19 and snowing there as I write this.
I probably deserve this for commenting on the Facebook status of friends who are shivering in the Midwest and Northeast that I, too am cold, since the high was not expected to top 70 here in Florida. My one consolation is that the person who volunteered me to go to Idaho in January also has to go.
So why am I going to Idaho in January?
For the same reason I went to Indonesia a little over a year ago, and the same reason I will be going overseas in the Fall of 2010, most likely to the Philippines.
I’m going because Idaho in January presents another opportunity for me to help people in the USA be involved with the amazing work God is doing among tribal people, and because photography helps bring those opportunities to life.
You see, most tribal people live in remote, isolated locations. Many are accessible only by foot or by plane. And not just any plane. Missionary pilots need to be able to land on small, rough strips, and that’s just the kind of conditions the Kodiak by Quest Aircraft is designed for.
Quest is based in Sandpoint, Idaho, and New Tribes Mission will take delivery of its first Kodiak there in January. I’m going to photograph that, so the many people who have prayed about and given toward the plane can see this important step toward getting it out on the field, serving missionaries who are working among isolated tribal people.
As much as I’d prefer to be going to Idaho in, say, June, I’m glad to be part of this. I hope you are, too. By your participation in our ministry, you are as much a part of planting churches among unreached people as we are, and as much as the folks in those remote villages and the missionary pilots who serve them. Thank you!
Please pray for an on-time trip. Winter is a prime time for flight delays, and it’s going to be difficult to photograph the hand-over if I’m sitting in an airport somewhere waiting for something or other.
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