December 11, 2016
by Pat Rees
The Rushers and I have started our trek back from Bongolo Hospital in Gabon to the Pacific Northwest. We left at 8 AM and had a wonderful, smooth flight (1 1/2 hours) transitioning from the southern to the northern hemisphere and arriving in Libreville, the capital city of Gabon. We now are "resting" at the guest house here in town until we go to the airport at 7 PM to check in for our 11:50 PM flight to Paris. Just a 7 hour lay over and then a direct flight back to Seattle. We will arrive Sunday afternoon.
This guest house has been the site of some lost personal items in the last week. As the missionaries on sabbatical have returned, one lost their wedding ring and another lost their billfold.
Little Caleb was playing with his mom's wedding ring while sitting at the kitchen table. It was only a couple of minutes later that they couldn't find the ring. Two hours of searching and looking in every conceivable hiding spot and NO RING. The couple had to leave and left with a prayer that it would be found---even though it didn't seem likely since they had already searched the whole area. Little Caleb looked at Mom and said, "Why are you sad? Don't you know that Jesus loves you?" How can you argue with a two year old when they say that! The ring was found by the cleaning person the following day.
Your ID is extremely important to keep secure, so when one of the missionaries arrived back in Bongolo, and had misplaced her billfold, she was distressed. When we arrived at the Guest House today, we did a flurry of looking. All the sites she said she might have left it or it could have slipped into, we looked. As the pilot was getting into the car to head back to the airport, he said one more silent prayer for the lost billfold. "Something" prompted him to look beneath the seat in the car. The lost was found!
We know that God cares so much about each of us and that even these rather "little things" that we ask, he cares about. HOW MUCH MORE does he care about the spiritually lost in this world? Right now, OUR world has focused on Bongolo. It is an area with demon worship, witch doctors who place curses, and lots of superstition. There are so many spiritually lost that Jesus loves so much! As we leave we continue to pray for these lost people, that the healing that comes from the hands of the doctors and nurses at Bongolo hospital will be a witness to the healing of the dark hearts that can only come from Jesus and his sacrificial death. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6
