From our archived blog:
This year for our homeschool we are using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. It is such a great fit for where we are in our life right now. I also love the fact that My Father's World has a huge heart for Bible translation - they even give a portion of the proceeds from all sales to support Bible translation in various ways! One of my favorite parts of the curriculum so far has been the missionary biographies that are incorporated (from this series). When we studied Mexico, we read a biography of William Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe. It resonated with my kids in so many ways, and they loved hearing how Wycliffe began with a young college student who went to Guatemala to sell Spanish Bibles, and ended up with a vision to bring God's Word to minority languages all over the world. We just finished up a biography on Nate Saint, as we studied South America and rain forests. If you aren't familiar with him, he was a missionary pilot who was martyred as he attempted to reach an Amazon tribe. It was a hard read in many ways, but a great reminder of the fact that we are all part of something so much bigger than ourselves.
Missionaries constantly face expendability. And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives. They forget that when their lives are spent and the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they wasted.Some might say, 'Isn't it to great a price to pay?' When missionaries consider themselves - their lives before God - they consider themselves expendable. And in our personal lives as Christians, isn't the same thing true? Isn't the price small in the light of God's infinite love? Those who know the joy of leading a stranger to Christ and those who have gone to tribes who have never heard the gospel gladly count themselves expendable... - Nate SaintThe price of pursuing God is small in light of His love - even when it means we are expended (used up) in that pursuit. What are we pursuing?