A Time of Conviction

I would like to share with you a blog entry from a missionary friend of my sister.

Down but not out.....

Hey everybody; this is Ken. As many of you know Christie after 2 years badgering, praying, and begging got the opportunity to attend a Guarani language class about 25 miles from our house. We are still without our car(over 2 months now) and I am still in recovery from my heart surgery. As I don't [have] permission from my Dr to drive yet our friend, evangelist and by now our family member Saul has been driving her to the class everyday on the motorcycle. If you have read the blog you know that this is rain or shine effort with flats and electrical trouble and many other various adventures. This morning they rolled out of the house to find a bright, sunny day and endless beautiful Paraguayan countryside. They were almost to there destination and were hit by a Toyota Landcruiser. They were slowing to make a left turn and the truck was driving VERY fast and tried to pass on the left side before they made their turn. He scrape down their side and hit the handle bars ejecting Christie from the bike and knocking Saul and the bike to the ground. The car went on to roll over and literally through a small, brick house. In all this destruction no one lost their life. Praise God. The Landcruiser guy escaped with no injuries. Saul is scraped and bruised, with a pretty bad ankle sprain. Over all he will be very sore but fared well. Which brings us to Christie. Christie pealed most of the skin from her left leg, both elbows, knees, and hands. She has various bruises and generally is sore. The WORST IS SHE BROKE HER FEMUR ON THAT SAME LEFT LEG. The bone is a bad break slightly above the knee. At 8 pm,local time, she will have surgery to put a plate and screws in her leg to stabilize it. She is in a lot of pain and we really desire your prayers. I thank God we have some very faithful friends here taking fantastic care of us. Some of them are Paraguayans and some are other American missionaries. We are truly blessed to soberly view the days events from a hospital room and not the Funeral Home. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks Ken

You can read more about Christie's progress by checking out their blog.

To be honest, when I first heard Christie's tale, I was convicted. Here is a woman who was traveling 25 miles on a motorcycle in the heat of Paraguay so that she could learn a language that would enable her to be a witness to more people. When was the last time I walked to my neighbor's house to be a witness? When was the last time I spoke to someone about Christ while at the grocery store? We have it so easy in America. We could be such great witnesses. Christie's story reminded me that I should be doing more. The Bible commands us to be a living sacrifice, but from what I can see, not many of us are sacrificing much. May Christie's story light a fire within us and compel us to strive harder to reach the lost.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. - Romans 12:1