My Teachers
Three years ago Beth and I arrived in the United States to begin a new chapter in our lives. The Lord allowed us to serve for thirty-one years in Latin America as missionaries. We worked our last five years in Peru. During our years the Lord used some very special people to make an impact on my life. Today I want to highlight some of these people and share important lessons that I have gleaned from their lives. Today permit me to introduce you to, “My Teachers.”
In August of 2011, I traveled from Lima, Peru to Iquitos to meet with Carlos, a local Baptist pastor, to plan a mission conference. Iquitos is a city of nearly 1,000,000 people located in the Amazon Basin of Peru. It is surrounded by rivers and is only accessible by air or boat. During that visit, I saw the Amazon River for the first time. Little did I know that over the next several years I would fly into the small Iquitos airport many times and have repeated opportunities to look at the world’s largest river.
Every two months Beth and I would go to a jungle camp two hours outside of Iquitos to train national believers in cross-cultural mission principles. Beth and I were also involved in two conferences for pastors and leaders in towns outside of Iquitos. One of these was down-river on the Amazon and allowed us a much deeper understanding of the life of our Peruvian brothers and sisters as they labor to proclaim the Gospel among the people living in villages in the Amazon Basin.
During the time that we repeatedly visited the Iquitos area, my life was deeply touched by the lives of those we went to teach and train. Those with whom we worked in this jungle area saw me as their teacher. They showed me great respect, which in itself is very humbling. But as I listened to them and observed their lives, they taught me some very important lessons about what it means to follow Christ — and I believe I have learned more from them than I could ever have taught them.
Several powerful traits in their lives became obvious to me. Foundational to everything else, many of these servants of the Lord demonstrate a single-minded devotion to Christ. Jesus is at the center of their life. They are simple and humble people that are motivated by pleasing their Master. Prayer is an important part of their lives and it is common to see well-used Bibles. In times of corporate worship, they sing with great enthusiasm and listen attentively as the Word of God is proclaimed.
They also have a deep desire to learn and grow. The greatest encouragement to a teacher is to see that his students are really interested and actively participate in the learning process. Often, conversations about our study themes continued well into meal times. It greatly motivated me to better prepare my lessons when I saw that many of the students were eager to put what they were learning into practice.
But perhaps the defining trait of these people is a passionate commitment to take the Gospel to the yet-unreached communities along the countless rivers of this area of Peru. I have noticed among them a burning desire to always go to the next community where the Good News of Christ has not yet reached. Life on the rivers and in the jungle is very difficult, but I saw in my students – my teachers – a willingness to endure hardship for the cause of Christ. They were passionate about taking the Gospel ever deeper into the jungle of Peru. I believe the Lord will use that very passion to call some of them to go as missionaries to the unreached people groups of the world.
It would be grossly unfair to put these brothers and sisters on a pedestal. They would be the first to say what they are they are only by the grace of God. Surely they struggle in their lives and in their walk with the Lord. However, in those very struggles they are able to find the Lord faithful and trustworthy and will grow closer to Him.
I never sat with these brothers and sisters as my teachers. However, I have been impacted by their simplicity, humility and earnest devotion to the Master. They have challenged me to constantly evaluate my devotion to Christ and to examine my priorities in life. How committed am I to do all I can to take the Good News of Christ to those who have not yet heard? I am deeply grateful to learn from these, my teachers.
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