What I ate for breakfast this morning traveled much more than I ever have. My orange juice came from Brazil. My banana came from Central America. My shredded wheat came from Canada. The sugar I put on my shredded wheat came from the Dominican Republic and my mandarin oranges came from China. I think my milk was local and came from here in Massachusetts. As each week passes, our little planet gets even smaller. Our technology and transportation have made people in India our neighbors.
Not that long (a few decades) ago when my wife and I were teaching in Uganda we relied on flimsy blue air mail letters to communicate with our family in the States. Once each eighteen months we made an appointment to go to Kampala to have an operator place a three minute telephone call for us to our families. Today teachers in Uganda daily use Skype or Facetime, not to just talk, but to see their loved ones in the States.
When Jesus gave His disciples the Great Gospel Commission to take the Gospel to the world they had no idea how far they had to go. When I was a little boy there was a world map in our church with countries marked that had a Christian population. I remember a large number of countries that were not marked. I doubt if there are any nations left without Christians. So what is Jesus waiting for? Why does He not return? We don’t know. He will come in His time. He will come when His infinite wisdom says it is time. In the meantime our task is to allow Him to work out His life in us that we are ready to be with Him whenever.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 14, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org