There was a very young pastor from Rio, who believed he had a call from God to go to the Amazon in Brazil.
The Amazon is full of tribes, some of them very dangerous. The church in Rio was delighted with a young man
willing to go to these tribes of the Amazon. They promised him support and everything. So he with his new wife,
just got married, went up into the far north to the Amazon jungle.
Within a few months the church in Rio had totally forgotten that he existed. There was no more support, and if there
was
it came in drips and drabs and dribbles. But also, he was having difficulty with the language, because each tribe had
its own language. The natives didn’t want to hear him and couldn’t understand his gospel. His wife was pregnant now.
And so, new baby, the tribes were not listening, no support, running out of food, running out of everything. By the time
the baby was born, everything was as bleak as it could be.
After a trip through the tribes and with no results except closed doors, he came back to his wife and he said, “Pack!
We are out of here! We are going back to Rio.” And he said, “I’m done. I’m finished with God. I’m finished with His
ministry. I’m out of here!” He said, “As you pack I’ve got to close this. I’ve got to have closure with God, to say I’m
finished with Him, I don’t want to hear from Him again, and if this is what He calls love, He can keep it!”
He went to a cabin on the edge of the jungle, and he screamed at God for the better part of a day. He cursed at
God, and he told God everything he could dredge up, until he was exhausted. He lay on the floor just absolutely
exhausted, having told God what he thought of Him. And as he lay there, the cabin was filled with the presence of God.
And he heard a voice within him, and it said, “I am so sorry that your work for me has interrupted our friendship.
Because all I’ve only ever wanted is your friendship, that you and I be together. And I would ask you to leave your
work for me so we can reconnect our friendship.”
That knocked him sideways. He’d never, ever thought of that. It was as if he’d rediscovered the gospel. And he
went back to his wife, and he said, “Unpack! We’re staying! I’ve got a new…I’ve got to work this out…this new.”
And he went back to the tribes, only this time with a totally different approach to the gospel. And they listened.
And suddenly money began to come in from not only Rio, but from all over Brazil.
The tears were flowing as the young pastor told this story through an interpreter, because he said,
”I never knew this was the gospel. Now I have a gospel. Now I’m living in the friendship of God and PS,
I work for Him."
(Transcribed from Webinar 379 – Pearl Perception
by Malcolm Smith - on YouTube)
Comments
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate hearing your thoughts.
Since God is invisible, Jesus was the best I could come up with to communicate a God-hug.
You're right. I could have searched a little harder for a picture of Jesus without the crown of thorns.
God bless you,
Rosann
I enjoyed reading this. However, the photo at the beginning pictures Jesus Christ embracing an individual. The article only mentions an encounter with God. Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son, not God Himself (who cannot be pictured). Jesus did appear to certain individuals and groups after his resurrection, but he surely was not still wearing a crown of thorns. Truth still reigns over tradition!