On one of our many drives, I was watching the surrounding area roll by, and I noticed a store called, “General Dealer”. It occurred to me that although the store was large for the country we were in, it was also considerably smaller than even general stores in the US.
That store probably has everything, or at least 95% of what the community needed on a daily basis, as well as farming items, and machinery parts. Think a Walmart or Meijer, combined with Tractors, Inc. or Home Depot, but in the size of a two-store space in a strip mall. There are plenty of items that simply do not fit in the store and are not necessary for the community, therefore, the store owner simply does not carry them.
From a US viewpoint, this store has almost nothing, limited foods, machinery parts, and maybe used auto parts. They lack so much. Why don’t we give them the necessary items? They lack “everything” we from the States think we need to survive.
On the contrary, from the view of the community, they have everything they need. This is something missionaries often forget when working with rural and poverty-stricken areas. The communities have all they really need to survive (except for maybe God). They have food, they have friends, they have family, and they have necessary items for gardening and farming.
They lack nothing.
#GodIsInControl #redefiningdisciple
#THIRD
