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One Baby for the World: 24 Days of Advent From a Missions Perspective Sample

One Baby for the World: 24 Days of Advent From a Missions Perspective

DAY 1 OF 24

Dark

It was dark. 

The world was dark. The people felt it. They understood darkness.  Dark governments, dark families, dark hearts. The words of Isaiah fell as a hope to the burdened listeners. Dark eyes staring back at the prophet.
 Oh, how they needed a Counselor, a Mighty God to free them. Oh, how the broken home needed a Father who would never leave. Peace, Israel needed peace.  But an everlasting peace sounded like a fairy tale.  To Israel, the words were more like a hopeful dream. They could only wait and observe if Isaiah’s words were predictions or ramblings of a crazed lunatic. 


 Thousands of years later, I enter a cold dark tent-like home called a ger. I’m in Mongolia, and this is my first week on the mission field. Inside, I find no fire even though the temperature outside falls far below freezing. I am here on a family visit, but I see no adult in this home, only two small babies no more than weeks old. I spot them side by side, all bundled up in thick quilts. I am here with the poorest of the poor for the very first time in my life. I have entered in. I rest my heavy backpack on the floor and wait. Moments later, the mother opens the only door to the circular one-room house, and with her, the icy cold air blasts in. I notice her small hands red and cracked from cold, grasping the handle of a bucket full of wood. She looks empty, desperate, void of hope. 

“I am trying to keep us alive,” she says, skipping a greeting. “I had to choose between wood to keep us warm or rice to eat. I chose wood”.
 My heart leaps as I remember what was making my backpack so heavy. Before I left for this visit, I thought back to that small voice nudging me to grab the bag of rice sitting on my pantry shelf. I watch her start the fire in the small wood stove.
Like the prophet, I have a message of hope for her future. Will she receive it, or is it too dark for her to see?

I watch her blow on the embers in the wood and think, do you need a counselor, mother? Are you seeking peace? Do you long for A father who provides, protects, loves? Do you need justice, mother?  It doesn’t have to stay dark.  The fire ignites, causing an orange glow to reflect off her tired face. I give her the rice and tell her about Who instructed me to bring it. 


Scripture

Day 2

About this Plan

One Baby for the World: 24 Days of Advent From a Missions Perspective

One Baby For The World takes you on an unforgettable Advent journey seen through the eyes of missions. Author Shari Tvrdik offers a unique perspective through Advent. She connects the powerful story of the nativity to her experiences with life among the suffering poor of Mongolia's ger district. Adapted from the book, One Baby For The World.

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