Monday, September 29, 2014

Thy Kingdom Come



Like Jesus, our prayer is that God’s name be hallowed, His kingdom come, His will be done … on earth as in heaven. As His workers, we see it as one of our primary functions to allow Him to work through us to accomplish these things here. Vanuatu is a picturesque place and we prefer to share the happy stories, but behind the sand, surf and palm trees, Satan is at work. For instance…

We recently heard of an American who lives in Malekula who innocently went in to a local store to purchase a memory card for his smart phone. Much to his surprise, there were pornographic images preloaded on the card … and what’s worse, they weren’t images downloaded from the internet of girls a thousand miles away, but local girls who had (seemingly) willingly posed for the pics. The influx of cell phones and the widespread availability of internet and camera phones is wreaking havoc throughout the country. We were literally numbed by this report.

We’ve recently been approached (by Christians!) inquiring as to whether it is acceptable for a woman to prostitute herself out to earn money for school fees, if she has the approval of her husband. We tried to answer the inquiries with patience and grace, but we were flabbergasted by the idea. As we began to inquire further, we learned that local, dis-organized prostitution of this sort is a reality, and is growing rapidly in popularity as locals have more dispensable income.

Something that has been particularly dear to our hearts since our early days in Vanuatu is what we term “post-birth abortion.” It seems there’s a new story every month of a baby’s body being found, having been “disposed of” by un-desiring parents (in the ocean, dumpsters, latrines, etc.). No doubt there several more who’s story never even gets told. This is what initially prompted us to communicate our willingness to adopt.

Last but certainly not least is domestic (particularly spousal) abuse. In some ways this is the worst example, because it is so openly accepted and practiced historically and culturally. We pray that this vicious cycle will be broken.


Imagine a world where we all "treat people the same way you want them to treat you."  Blessed are the peacemakers … may it be us! 

~EB

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