Summer Reading and Reflections

It's been a long time that a book as moved me to tears as often as Too Small To Ignore by Wess Stafford has. In it, he tells his testimony starting with the blissful months he spent living with his family in tropical West Africa, being loved on and cherished by the African village his parents were ministering to, and growing both in his conviction of God's love for him and the calling on his life to help the poorest of the poor. I actually laughed out loud at some of the stories, especially the one where a clothes donation arrives from America, and the chief, who gets first choice of course, selects old women's nighties to wear.

However, his testimony also includes the dark months spent at his MK boarding school several hundred miles away where he encountered child abuse of the foulest kind, both physical and emotional. It broke my heart and just added to the mounting resolve I felt this past year to keep fighting for children around the world. They are under so much more attack than I ever realized. Wess Stafford makes the point that the most common age in which people turn to Christ is under 18. Ask most believers today when they became Christians, and you'll receive a "pre-adult" answer. That's why he's convinced a spiritual war rages over children because the enemy knows if he can keep them from trusting God before 18, half the battle is won.

I went to BFA thinking I was serving missionaries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa and helping them stay in their ministries, and that's still 100% true. But it's so much more. I've found MY mission field in the 320 kids who attend our school, many more non-believers than I expected. So many of them have seen and experienced deep hurt already in the countries they come from: friends oppressed, families divided, war, murder, constant threat, and adamant refusal of the hope-bringing gospel. If Satan can get to them in these years, he may be able to destroy not only the ministries of their parents (who can't concentrate or ethically stay on the field if their kids are hurting), but also the spirits of these kids entrusted to BFA.

My child advocacy may not be among the poorest of the poor as Wess Stafford's is, but I believe in it more assuredly today than even a year ago! If you're looking for some not-so-light-but-excellent summer reading, I highly recommend this book.