What Are You Going to Do?Sýnishorn

What are you going to do when there’s too much to do?

The Middle East. Africa. Northern India. Japan. South Korea. Suddenly Everett Swanson, the farm-boy-turned-evangelist-turned-pastor—a man who had never traveled outside of the US—found himself sharing the good news of God’s love all over the far side of the globe.

In 1951 and ’52, connections with the Baptist General Conference and with Dr. Bob Cook, founder of Youth for Christ, didn’t just open doors for Everett. They opened worlds. Everett spent more than eight months traveling from region to region, telling the beautiful story of the bridge between God and mankind to many who had never even heard the name of Jesus before. Eventually, he arrived in war-torn and divided Korea.

Everett’s initial mission was to bring the story of God’s saving grace to the nationals, members of the military, and even prisoners of war. But a chance encounter in Seoul, South Korea, changed everything. An orphan stole Everett’s coat and ran into an alleyway. Running after him, Everett got his first glimpse into the suffering of some of Korea’s tens of thousands of war orphans who were ragged, homeless, starving, and dying.

God’s path for Everett Swanson was curving again. With no funding, no experience in running a non-profit outreach, no knowledge of the Korean language, and no idea how to begin, Everett prayed for direction and for resources. He didn’t know how he could impact the lives of children halfway around the world, but he knew that he served a God who was “able to do immeasurably more than he could ask or imagine.” (Eph. 3:20)

By the end of 1953, compassionate donors had enabled him to build or buy property in South Korea for two orphanages and a boy’s home that would rescue 400 orphans from deprivation and death. And a growing list of caring child sponsors was laying the foundation for what would become the world-wide child advocacy ministry known as Compassion International.

“My hands were empty when I began this work,” Everett would later write. “As we have followed God’s leading, taking one step of faith at time, He has supplied the ‘power that worketh in us.’” (Eph. 3:20)

YOUR TURN:

• Have you ever felt that the tasks and challenges ahead of you were overwhelming? How did you determine what “first steps” to take to tackle them?
• Be honest: When you’re overwhelmed, what is the first thing you tend to do?