Two Worlds One Faith

Our senior pastor, another elder, and his son came for a visit all the way to the jungle from our home church. Over the years, many people have expressed interest in coming to see us, but getting to where we are isn’t easy or cheap. You have a minimum of 5 flights that extend over 40+ hours and many time zones. The cultures and cultural differences come flying at you, and it is all a blur by the end.

But these friends of ours counted the cost and still came!

It will be a memory I won’t easily forget because for a few days, on our side of the mountain, two worlds collided. Our home church, Rocky Bayou Baptist, has supported us financially and spiritually for over 18 years. So to see our dear friends from Florida squatting around the fire with all our dear friends in the jungle was priceless. They talked about their faith, discussed hard theological issues, and mutually encouraged one another.

There is little these men had in common culturally or materially, but what they did share was a deep, abiding love for the gospel of Jesus Christ, his Word, and his people. It radiated in every conversation. The things of this world will pass away, but the bond we have as believers can never be broken, and one day we will stand together for eternity:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9–10)