Tag Archives: medical missions

I received a very simple email the other day, and it reminded me that, while I may not know the details of my future, God has not stopped knitting my circumstances to propel me toward His purposes for my life. While preparing for missions deployment, a lot of logistical concerns can plague the mind if we let it. This little picture reminded me that the first missionaries took no spare sandals, no spare money, no change of clothes. Paul worked as a tent-maker, a term now used to describe any missionary who works to pay his/her way. Suddenly, with the receipt of this little collection of digital code and lit pixels, a thousand "What next?" questions were washed away with one very possible godly "What if?"

CURE jobs

There is a CURE hospital in Mbale, Uganda, which we did not get to see on our tour a year ago. They specialize in diseases of the brain, mostly hydrocephalus, a disfiguring and lethal disease, often a consequence of malnutrition and poor fetal development. As I considered the possibilities that open up as a result of emigrating as a "worker" rather than a "missionary" I am amused at how things change with Uganda's Ministry of Immigration. Missionaries need permission to enter; workers apparently just need opportunity.

I need to emphasize this is not a decision that was a made, but merely a suggestion that opened possibilities.

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Photo credit: Samaritan's Purse

As I prepare for service as a minister of health on the African continent I am particularly disturbed by news of the Ebola virus epidemic that has gripped much of West Africa. Dr. Kent Bradley, an American physician working with Samaritan's Purse to fight the Ebola outbreak, has contracted the disease. Please pray for him, for all the workers, the lives to which they minister, the lives to which they might not have the opportunity, the continent of Africa, and for the abundant life of Christ to come to all people. Hundreds have already died from this outbreak, including about fifty healthcare workers.

Please pray against this microscopic protein, but pray against spiritual forces that are using it to steal, kill, and destroy. The Name of Jesus is bigger than the African continent, bigger than the globe this disease threatens, and bigger than evil itself.

"Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving." (Colossians 4:2, ESV)

While we wrestle in prayer, let us not become so distracted even by our God-given passions that we fail to come against the powers that threaten Israel at this very hour also.

Read more about Dr. Kent Bradley at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/samaritans-purse-doctor-serving-in-liberia-west-africa-tests-positive-for-ebola/