{"id":642,"date":"2026-05-21T23:40:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/?p=642"},"modified":"2026-05-21T23:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:40:36","slug":"army-medics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/2026\/05\/21\/army-medics\/","title":{"rendered":"Army Medics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAY 17, 2026
\u201cJesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, \u2018The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into the fields.\u2019\u201d \u2014Matthew 9:35-38

I think one of the hardest jobs to have would be an army medic. Every day you would be trying to patch people up and care for them, while having a relentless stream of more and more injured people coming in. I imagine you would wish you could just stop the war, and wonder if you are even making a difference. (However, I\u2019m sure if you asked someone patched up by the medic, they\u2019d feel like the medic made a difference!)

I\u2019ve been feeling like that in our work in member care lately. It feels like there is an endless stream of hurting people, and while I\u2019m doing my best to care for people and patch them up, people just keep getting hurt. Not only that, but most of the injuries are from friendly fire- other believers! I really wish I could stop people from hurting each other, and sometimes I wonder if I\u2019m even making a difference. However, like the army medic, I can\u2019t stop the war. Until Jesus comes to reign, sin will persist on this earth, and people, even believers, will keep hurting each other. I guess I\u2019ll just keep trying to make a difference for the person sitting in front of me.

I\u2019m sure that when Jesus was on Earth, he felt burdened by the sin and pain He saw before Him each day, even though He knew He\u2019d come to solve it through His death on the cross. I think it\u2019s interesting that He didn\u2019t just speak a word and heal whole cities at a time, even though He could have. Instead, He chose to heal people in the context of a close, personal encounter with Himself, showing them His love and compassion for them personally.

I hope that in our encounters with people, we are able to show them Jesus\u2019 love and compassion. We may not be able to stop all the sin and pain, but our hope is that people who come to us for help can have a close personal encounter with Jesus, and experience the healing that comes from experiencing His unconditional love.

Please pray for us as we seek to care for God\u2019s sheep, and pray for the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into His fields.

Till all know,
Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck


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Matt preaching

WHAT ARE WE SUPPORTING? THIS MONTH\u2019S TRIBAL FOCUS:
Pray for the Wabuku Church
Missionary Jason Cizdziel writes, \u201cThe first believer from among our Wabuku church has died. Markus was a follower of Jesus\u2026 Pray for the Wabuku church. Before the church was born, death was a terrifying time. It brought out the worst. Suspicions, accusations, desperation. This is their first death after joining Yawe\u2019s clan, the family of God\u2019s children that exists beyond borders. Pray that they find comfort in the hope of our salvation and the promise of our future resurrection. And pray they avoid the old ancestor traditions of assigning blame and seeking revenge. Pray for me as I attempt to guide the church through mourning the loss of a brother with new perspective. Pray I lead with wisdom as we learn to grieve, but not without hope as the unbelievers do. And pray Wabuku understands clearly that for us, just like for Jesus, death is not the end of the story.\u201d He also shares some testimonies from believers in the church reflecting on Markus\u2019 death:\u00a0\u201cBut I will hear him sing again. I will see his face again in heaven. So even though I cry, I have happy thinking, too.\u201d \u201cSome called the witchdoctor while he was sick to determine what black magic was killing him. But the church told them no, we won\u2019t invite Satan into our village again. God marked the day Markus would die and now Markus is with the way-above, all-powerful God.\u201d \u201cMarkus died when he was baptized. His new life can\u2019t die. It will be forever. Just like Jesus.\u201d \u201cNo, there were no fights, no blaming talk. We all knew that Markus believed in Jesus, he was in Yahweh\u2019s canoe, so now he is with Yawe.\u201d

Please Pray:
that we can care well for hurting people
that we can do some trainings to help people interact more healthily and hopefully prevent some future hurts
that we can visit some missionaries in their village this summer
for more support workers, especially teachers. Our school had to cancel two grade levels for next year due to lack of staff.
Praise God:
God brought about reconciliation between the people we were working with
God has given direction in some of our ministry decisions
The school year is finishing up well
Karissa gets to teach 9th-10th grade Bible next year, in addition to junior high English<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAY 17, 2026\u201cJesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}