An Addition to Our Bookshelves

On a brief visit home to the United States, Steve Gumaer came to Midland bearing an important message ..... and bearing gifts, too.

A copy of "Eternity in Their Hearts," a book by Don Richardson, is being added to the library shelves at First Presbyterian Church of Midland, in celebration of the First Thailand Mission Team, 2008. Steve Gumaer, co-founder of Partners Relief & Development, recently appeared in the Tall City as part of a speaking tour of the western United States. The visit also provided him a chance to catch-up with many of our team members who had met him earlier this year, during our mission in Thailand - and to present them with copies of Richardson's book.

Subtitled, "Startling Evidence of Belief in the One True God in Hundreds of Cultures Throughout the World." the book offers compelling stories of how missionaries spread the Word to the far corners of the globe ..... only to find that the Word, somehow, had preceded them.

"The year is 1795, and deep in Burma's jungle hundreds of tribesmen rush to greet a light-skinned stranger. Is he bringing the book their forefathers lost centuries ago---the book that tells about Y'Wa, the Supreme God?" With this and other case studies from around the world, Richardson shows how God has prepared the way for the gospel by setting, as Ecclesiastes said he would. ''eternity in the hearts of men.'

The pages devoted to Burma were of special interest to our mission team. While on the Thailand/Burma (Myanmar) border we worked and prayed with many refugees from that troubled country. They were Karen, the descendants of those who greeted American Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson, and heard the Word from Ko Thah-byu, "The Karen Apostle." More than 200 years later, when we worshipped with the Karen, whether it was in a migrant workers' village or a refugee camp, it was in a sanctuary of the Karen Baptist Church.

Steve has long since returned to Thailand, where his group is part of relief efforts for those struck by the devastating cyclone in Burma. Please give thoughtful, prayerful consideration to helping Steve and the people at Partners in those efforts.