Goal Zero

I was sitting with my friends on a local bus, waiting (as we do in Africa) for the driver to appear, when a truck stopped nearby. On the rear window was the bumper sticker, “Goal Zero.”

I like random questions, so I asked what situation would make achieving ‘zero’ a goal? There were six of us on the bus and answers started coming.

“Zero babies and mothers dying in childbirth, zero women and children being beaten; zero hunger; zero girls being circumcised; zero war; zero refugees; zero malnutrition; zero corruption; zero girls dropping out of school; zero child marriages; zero girls being sent to the Middle East and Asia and abused; zero malaria, zero TB, zero poverty, zero AIDS, zero rape, zero persecution...”

The answers stopped and there was a profound silence in the air. This is the world we live in. What started as a joke, challenged us all. In reality, none of these statistics are even close to zero. Can I even imagine a world where these zeros really exist? No. I lost my idealism a long time ago. It’s somewhere in another part of Africa.

After a prolonged silence, I contributed the shallow statement of “Zero mistakes in my language ability,” at which the others laughed politely and the pressure lifted. But I can’t let it go. Why shouldn’t we live in a world like this?

There’s a couple I know who have recently decided to follow Jesus. They were Muslim. Their family took away their children because of their change in faith. They say their main prayer is that their children also find Jesus. They say this new faith is worth this momentary trial and they know God is taking care of their children, even though they can’t be with them. I can’t stop thinking about this either. 

Last summer a group of people were praying and fasting for unreached people groups in the Horn of Africa. They were challenged to ask God to do something that only He could do. A woman prayed and said: “Wouldn’t it be amazing if there could be one million people praying for the Horn at the same time?”

Could you be one of these people committed to praying for the 100 million people in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti?  The goal is not the numbers. The goal is more prayer. So pray and be one in a million.

By a worker on the Horn

Caring for the Disabled in the Middle East

from the ReachAcross U.S. Director

For some years now, Gene and Rochelle have been working among disabled people in a Middle Eastern country, bringing grace and the Good News to some of the most neglected inhabitants of a largely unreached area. The English language and computer classes have been supplemented in the last two years through a program that provides for physiotherapists and other specialists to visit these people in their homes. Gene and Rochelle were evacuated recently with other personnel—much too soon to be able to turn this work over to nationals. We don’t know what will become of their labor, but we do know that we have a God who cares for the poor, and He will not forget about them.

The neediest patients often come from long distances. One morning a crippled child was brought from a village about two hours drive into the mountains. A caring relative in the city had given the family hope that they might be able to get help from a foreigner who actually loved and cared for handicapped people! Since the birth of their crippled child, the family had struggled in to know how to care for her. In the clinic a doctor did a medical examination and they got advice from a physiotherapist. We could see that it would be very helpful for the family to have a wheelchair to taking the growing child out of the house occasionally.

Thankfully, after a gift from a friend, we arranged a family outing to that village 2 hours away, and were able to deliver the wheelchair to the grateful family! We emphasized to them that God had provided for their need through generous Christian friends. They were so excited!

A qualified occupational therapist came along with us and was asked to look at two physically and mentally disabled boys. In her gentle way she showed the mothers how to do some simple exercises with their sons to help their muscles develop. Now they also felt some hope for their children.

The village is dusty and windswept with very little to employ people. The poverty drives the young men to leave the village to go to the cities in search of work. There are schools in the village and a small but active regional health centre. We long that centers like this will bring Christ's compassion and practical help to more people.

The end of the trip was very encouraging because after a generous lunch I had a good chat with our hosts about the Gospel. Gene