{"id":334,"date":"2020-03-09T21:23:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T02:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/?p=334"},"modified":"2020-03-09T22:06:15","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T03:06:15","slug":"the-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/2020\/03\/09\/the-why\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cWhy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhen you know your \u2018why\u2019 then your \u2018what\u2019 has more impact, because you\u2019re working towards your purpose.\u201d<\/p>Michael Jr.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After a night of fitful sleep interrupted by unfamiliar sounds\nand punctuated with excruciating leg cramps, the sunlight streamed in through the\nwindows way too early that morning.  It\nhad taken us a grueling 15 hours to hike in the day previous (see \u201cA\nWalk In Their Shoes<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did we do it?  Our\nguides asked that same question somewhere along the trail the day before.  I\u2019ll tell you the same thing I told them.  It\u2019s one thing to hear about the impact\naviation makes in missions:  dangers which\ncan be avoided, physical and mental wear and tear which can be eliminated, vital\nsupplies which can be regularly delivered, the assurance of access to medical aid\nor evacuation in the face of an emerging crisis.  Those are just a few ways aviation enables\nthose serving in remote, isolated locations to thrive rather than just survive\nin their ministries.  It\u2019s one thing to\nhear it or even to repeat it.  Friends,\nfamily, churches, visitors at aviation expos, students interested in mission\naviation, I\u2019ve shared with them the things I\u2019ve heard from trustworthy sources,\nbut, as I shared with our friends on the trail that day, it\u2019s one thing for\nyour head to know it, it\u2019s a whole nother* thing for your legs to know it.  It\u2019s the difference between head knowledge and\npractical experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Before we get too much further, for all the honorary\nmembers of the grammar police out there, you may find Merriam-Webster\u2019s usage\nnotes on the phrase \u201cwhole nother\u201d of interest. [link<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our front porch view from the house we were privileged to stay in (that of another missionary family who was not in the bush at the time).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I stretched to reach the floor from my bunk that morning there\nwas no mistaking the fact that my legs now \u201cknew it!\u201d  Shuffling outside, down the stairs, and across\nthe dew drenched pathway to the missionaries\u2019 house for breakfast, my legs were\nalready objecting to the half-hour walk which was to follow as we planned to head\nback down the trail to the village for the day. \nSome time in the Word, a hearty breakfast, and a cup of hot coffee\nlater, the outlook on the day was much less bleak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warm smiles greeted us as we stepped back outside.  Some were there just out of curiosity, some\nto lend us a hand with our gear later, while others had arrived for\ntraining.  The walk back to gather our\nthings for the day took us past the team\u2019s office where some of the men from\nthe village church could be seen through the open door, gathered to learn new technology\nskills.  It\u2019s one of the many projects\nthe church planting team here has undertaken to see the local church more fully\nequipped for life and ministry.  Having a\nworking knowledge of computers is a very practical skill even in this remote\nmountain village.  It allows the church\nnot only to communicate and connect with people and resources from the outside,\nit gives them the ability to more readily create literacy and teaching\nresources of their own in their own heart language.  We lingered at the door for just a second\nbefore continuing to the house to organize our gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the gear arranged, a few snacks packed, and water supplies\ntopped off, we struck out mid-morning with a train of kids trailing close behind\ncarrying various parts and pieces of camera gear.  Winding slowly back down the mountain we made\nour way to the village below.  While the\nphotographer toured the village with one of the missionaries who works among\nthis people group, capturing snippets of their lives and testimonies of some of\nthe believers there, I ventured off with some of the young men who were eager\nto show me around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving the small, unpretentious church building where we\u2019d\ninitially gathered, we meandered aimlessly about the village as we storied.  They had so many questions for me, but after satisfying\ntheir initial curiosity I tugged on a thread of a narrative Jonjin had begun to\nshare.  He was contrasting his growing up\nyears there the village against his present experience boarding with a family\nmore than a day\u2019s travel away while he works through 6th<\/sup> grade.  I was curious what things he\u2019d learned through\nthe first couple grades there in the village school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside the meeting house of the local church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A smile lit up his face. \nGrabbing my arm he beckoned me to follow him across to the school grounds\nwhere three small structures of roughhewn timber, wrapped in woven bamboo\nmatting and covered with tin roofing sat adjacent to a small clearing.  Stepping through the simple fence which surrounded\nthe school grounds we quickly glanced in two of the classrooms before entering the\nthird.  Almost completely encircling the\nroom were laminated illustrations, carefully hung one beside next.  There must have been 70 or more in all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The church building stands somewhat centrally in the village, a small tin-roofed structure with slat-board walls, each plank fashioned painstakingly using rudimentary hand-tools. The school buildings are those uppermost on the right of the photo. Perched near the edge of the ridge two of the three small buildings are visible, the third, central classroom obscured they the trees. (Photo credit: Travis Tank)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Starting at one end and proceeding methodically through each\none in order, Jonjin recounted the stories they represented.  These weren\u2019t just any stories, they were elements\nof THE Story, God\u2019s Story.  Starting in\nGenesis and weaving through the Biblical narrative to Revelation he didn\u2019t\nsimply recall characters or settings represented by the simple pictures.  In his own words he skillfully articulated the\nChrist-centered nature of Scripture; that is, to borrow a phrase from the introduction\nof the \u201cChrist-Centered Exposition Commentary\u201d series, Scripture, \u201ccontains a\nunified story of redemptive history of which Jesus is the hero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enraptured by Jonjin\u2019s relating of the greatest story ever\ntold I hesitated to leave once he concluded. \nSince no one else knew where I was, though, and not wanting to hold the\nrest of the group up, we meandered back out into the village to find them.  Before rejoining the larger group, however, I\nhad one last question I hoped Jonjin could answer for me.  When so many youth in similar situations seem\nto be leaping at the opportunity to get out of the village and I hear stories\nof remote people groups across the globe who are worried their identity may be soon\nbe lost to history, what drew him to make the arduous journey back to his\nvillage over the relatively short school break?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stopped in his tracks as if to emphasize the point he was\nabout to make.  \u201cThe teaching,\u201d he said, \u201cI\nwanted to hear the Bible teaching.\u201d Probing a bit I sought to clarify, weren\u2019t\nthere believers where he was going to school? \nWas there no church community there which he could plug in to?  Indeed, there were believers and there was a\nchurch.  That was all well and good, he\nwent on, \u201cbut to talk about God\u2019s Word in the trade language [Tok Pisin or\nPidgeon as it\u2019s commonly referred to] is like the birds hopping around in the tops\nof the trees (he gestured towards a nearby stand of trees in which birds were\nflitting restlessly from branch to branch). \nIt just touches the top.  Hearing\nGod\u2019s talk in my native tongue, though, that\u2019s deep.  That\u2019s like getting down to the roots (he\ngestured to the base of the trees).\u201d  If\nyou want to grow deeper in your faith, if you want to be nourished and\nstrengthened and encouraged by the Word, there are few things sweeter than\nbeing able to engage with it in your own heart language.  \u201cPidgeon is okay, but my tribal language,\nthat\u2019s \u2018sweet.\u2019  I journeyed back because\nthere\u2019s nothing like hearing God\u2019s talk in my own language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There it is\u2026the tie to my \u201cwhy\u201d from the mouth of a 6th<\/sup>\ngrader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jonjin and I “storying” while we sat in a small shelter adjacent the church building.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day no, matter how you cut it, there\u2019s nothing\nlike the opportunity to have and to hear God\u2019s Word in one\u2019s own language.  Nothing runs more deeply and communicates\nmore clearly than our own \u201ctok ples\u201d (pronounced like \u201ctalk place\u201d) i.e. our\nnative tongue, our heart language, the language we feel most comfortable with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body of Christ has been commissioned to go out among the\nnations making disciples, baptizing, and teaching.  To be as clear and impactful as possible in our\nministry context our church planting teams spend years living among the people group\nwhere they\u2019ve been invited to minister. \nThe missionaries learn the host culture and language, create a written alphabet,\nteach literacy, translate Scripture, lead foundational Bible teaching, and disciple\nnew believers toward maturity with the goal of being used by the Lord to see a\nthriving, indigenous church established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Travis captures a conversation around the ubiquitous fire pit, a central fixture of every house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Those are monumental tasks, each one of them, and those take\ntime.  While we\u2019re in no way looking for\nshortcuts in ministry, I believe we would remiss if we failed to capitalize on the\nefficiencies offered by modern aviation. \nThere is an urgency to the task as souls the world over enter a Christ-less\neternity, having never in this life had the opportunity to hear and respond to\nthe gospel of grace.  If, by playing a\nrole in bringing the tool of aviation to bear for the benefit of those\nproclaiming the gospel, families and teams are able remain in these remote locations,\nsupplied, connected, and engaged in their task, then impact of my \u201cwhat,\u201d\nserving as an administrator in our aviation department, suddenly becomes more evident\nin light of my \u201cwhy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big \u201cwhy\u201d for me boils down to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KNOW<\/strong>\nGod myself<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SHOW<\/strong>\nHim to others<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GROW<\/strong> together in maturity and Christlikeness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning as the sun broke brilliantly across the rugged mountainscape, I reflected on the \u201cwhy\u201d while we stood on the yet unfinished airstrip there, awaiting a helicopter shuttle back to the village from which we\u2019d set out two days before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Awaiting the helicopter shuttle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m definitely not here simply for the adventure of it all.  I\u2019d just experienced the realities of the fact that what can appear at the outset to be an adventure has a way of rather quickly turning into an absolute grind (like the instant you topple head-first over the edge of the trail, or pull your first leech off your leg, or grab a spiked, stinging plant for the third time as you slide precariously down the muddy path, or\u2026you name it).  I\u2019m here, compelled by the love of Christ, to use the skill, training, and experience God\u2019s given me for the accomplishment of His purposes by His power for others\u2019 eternal good and His eternal glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the helicopter skids broke the ground, lifting us into the dazzling morning sky, a vivid green strip of land could be seen in the distance, a small white dot at one end.  A short four minutes later the helicopter settled gently onto that green strip in front of a waiting Kodiak, our ticket home.  With a goofy grin across my face I could hardly keep from laughing as the helicopter, in just four minutes, had whisked us from one ridgetop to another, effortlessly bypassing the punishing terrain which had taken our small band 15 backbreaking hours to cover on foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Happy to head home after our epic adventure, Kate boards the plane for the half-hour hop back to the Goroka valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It could be said aviation is a game-changer, but what we\u2019re about here is no game.  Ministry is about life change and I\u2019m thankful to be able to facilitate that as we employ the tool of aviation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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