OUR PEACE CHILD

How could one small baby bring peace between men out to harm each other?

That's what Canadian missionary Don Richardson asked himself. He and his college sweetheart Carol had married and then felt the call of God to share the good news with the Sawi tribes-people of Irian Jaya.

After many months working among these volatile warring tribes, one day he threatened them as they began fighting outside his house.

He cried out loudly that he'd go and work among other villagers if they didn't quit their feuding and make peace.  Suddenly one man ran off and took his baby son from his wife. She screamed and wrenched it away from him. Then another man from the opposition hurried to his house and took up his baby son. His wife shrieked and wailed but couldn't stop him when he handed over their baby to a man who he had been fighting. As the man accepted the child others laid hands on it amidst women's cries.

Deeply shattered by this show of great emotion Don asked what was happening. "This is the only way to make peace between us," he was told. "As long as the Peace Child lives we are safe." Don had the answer. He told them how God the Father had sent His only Son as a Peace Child between men. Wicked men killed Jesus, but He rose from the dead because He was God's Son and He lives forever. So they had no need to do this anymore once they believed in Him because the sacrifice of His Peace Child lasts as long as Jesus lives. And He will never die again.

And this Christmas we can thank our Father for sending His Son to give us His peace in our hearts. May you all know the blessing of His lasting peace. Remember there is nothing we can add to His perfect sacrifice, but to accept it and honor Him with our right living.

A VERY BLESSED CHRISTMAS to YOU

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TOGETHER at LAST

The family with Ken and Daphne celebrating a special birthday

The doctor looked so serious 

as he approached my bedside. “What's up Doc?” I asked. He replied, “Ken, my boy, I'm afraid it is hepatitis and you will need to postpone your wedding.” “Oh no! For how long?”  “probably six months as you will need to be here for three and then there will be the travel arrangements...”

I lay back on the pillows too tired and weak to do more than ask for time to think about it. My fiancee, Daphne, had all the arrangements for our wedding in Brisbane well under way. After ten days which are blank in my mind, the doctor again advised me to send a telegram postponing our wedding. I calculated the dates and realised that I had five weeks to the alter. Crying to God for help I began to complain, “Lord I can't believe that you have kept us apart for over two years, only to now be faced with further separation.”  Yet that same day the local missionary brought me his portable short-wave radio tuned in to the Far East Broadcast Company in The Philippines. The first program started with the old hymn “Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side” It was like the voice of the Lord speaking to my heart.

Soon after I opened twelve letters from Daphne  held up in a strike. The last one said, “Honey, I've sent out half of the wedding invitations but with this strike I don't know what's happening. So, I'm going ahead in faith and I'm sending out the rest of the invitations, trusting God to bring you home in time.”  My decision was easy; if Daphne could trust God to bring me home in time then I could trust Him to give me the strength to fly home to Australia and into the arms of the woman I loved. And He did.

Ken continues:

After Christian service together in Zambia we returned to Australia and spent many years in Church leadership on the home front. Then twenty years in business life demonstrated that the God who is able to see us through the difficulties in Christian service is equally able to meet our needs in the business world.  Testings will always come but the rich experiences of trusting God through the difficult times have proved that He “will never leave us nor forsake us, so that we may confidently say that the Lord is my helper I will not fear...”

Thanks Ken for sharing your personal experiences  of the Lord's faithfulness in your lives.

 

The PARTING

As the P and O Liner slipped away from the       

Fremantle Wharf on that September day so long

ago, I could feel the pang of loneliness creep up

my spine. The streamer became tighter as the

young nurse on the wharf wrapped her end 

around her hand. I leaned over the deck rail

hanging onto my end as long as I could. Finally

the paper snapped and we were reduced to waving until we could no longer make out each 

other's face. What had I done? What had brought us to this moment of painful separation?

Two years earlier, a Gospel preacher gave the challenge,“Is God sending you to a lost world?” He seemed  to be pointing his finger right at me and I responded, convinced that India was to be the “world” which I would love for my Saviour. No sooner  had I come to that conclusion than a telegram arrived from my mother saying “Dad died last night. Please ring.” How could I go to India and leave my Mother and siblings in a difficult situation? So I finished my course at Emmaus Bible College, and somewhat perplexed, returned to Western Australia.

Only a few months after settling in Perth things changed a great deal in my family’s circumstances and I prayed “Lord I believe You have freed me to respond to your call to India, but when and where?” That night I received a phone call about a new venture (now called GLO Ministries) and a team was being formed to work in Madras, (now Chennai) India, to spread the Good News via literature and visitation. About this time two young Queensland girls had just finished their general nursing training. Deciding to qualify in midwifery they applied and were accepted at the WA King Edward Memorial Hospital. Both were keen Christians and turned up at my home church. We mixed socially and on one occasion with no thought other than to be polite, I suggested coffee while waiting for her friend to come off duty. It was over coffee in the El Calib Cafe in Hay Street, Perth that I fell in love with Daphne.

What a dilemma! I was committed to going to India. Daphne was committed to doing her training. Would I cancel my plans for India, or would Daphne quit her nursing course and come to India with me? We both believed that God was in control of our lives and that He had planned our future for us so we prayed in earnest. We reasoned together that God had led me to missionary service in India before I met Daphne and that God had led her to her present course of action before she met me. So we made the most difficult decision of our lives. I would go to India and she would complete her plans and then we would marry. For six months we prayed and planned and, yes, we had the peace of God about our decision.

On the lighter side, my workmates at the Kodak Company, were convinced that no girl would wait for me while I flitted off in some hair-brain scheme for two years and were prepared to “put money on it” They lost but I never saw the cash! As I think back, I realise that if I had gone to India earlier, as planned, I would never have met my Daphne. So, I learned that my disappointment was God's appointment. After two years and 1500 letters we were married, but the drama of that “near miss” is another story woven into the fabric of God's perfect will. And for 46 years God has remained faithful to us.

* Thanks Ken for sharing your touching story with us. Ken Harding is involved in an itinerant Bible teaching and evangelistic ministry.