The Good Samaritan Scare

All my life, when I have heard the parable of the Good Samaritan preached, the danger of being robbed also or maybe being killed was mentioned, but the fact that the kind man didn’t let this stop him from helping a dying man was emphasized. Love is this: putting the needs of others above your own needs or safety. And God, who is the Owner of Death and Life and who loves us with this very love, will work it out.

A few months ago, Givanildo Brasil, a church worker in the Paraiba city, Emas, was driving his niece to a graduation in another city. They came upon a car, stranded on the side of the road. Givanildo stopped to see if he could help, but quickly took off when he saw that the men were stealing cattle. They gave chase and shot his car twice. One of the bullets grazed his niece, another left a hole in the door of his car. They were fine just shaken up. It took a while for Givanildo to get up the nerve to travel outside his city.

Even though not every good Samaritan is going to find a good hurt person to help, our mission in life is to love as our God loves us, and He gives us the best life insurance in the universe: everlasting life, no matter what happens, no matter what!

Givanildo and his wife Helena

Comments

The Second Generation, Part II

In 1993 when we came in contact with a young struggling couple in Caruaru, Paulo and Simone, we never imagined what plans God had in store for them. Now 18 years later (Wow, has it been that long?), after conversion, ups and downs, growing pains, working to further the Kingdom and living it, they have had the pleasure to witness the beginning of their daughter's life in Christ. Juliana (age ten) was baptized by her older brother, Jheymerson, who was also ten years old when he gave his life to Jesus. What a wonderful blessing to have one's whole family saved in Christ! Maria and Cícero were also converted when we lived in Caruaru, though single at the time. They dated and got married, the ceremony performed by yours truly. Maria has been faithful to Jesus all these years though going through several difficulties. Cícero, on the other hand, fell away, but came back and renewed his life and his marriage, and now, along with Juliana, his daughter Vitória (age ten) was baptize...

Out And About

Last weekend I traveled to Patos, where I conducted the state-wide plan meeting, spent time with an evangelist, helped plan the Great Supper in October and met with two different congregations. The state-wide plan is still moving forward. Their goal for this meeting was to have someone prepared who is able to prepare another person. Each congregation is still working towards this goal. They each have someone in place that they are training. The short-term goal is to train men and women who will be able to train other men and women. The mid-term goal is to prepare the congregation in various aspects of the work and spiritual life so that it, the congregation, can continue to grow without the current evangelist. The long-term goal is to prepare the congregation to send out the current evangelist or other men to establish a congregation in a new city....

Missions In May

I will be traveling this weekend to Cajazeiras to teach an intensive seminar on "Faith and Obedience"over the weekend. Please pray for a safe trip and encouraging, edifying classes. The church in this city has a lot of young people. Most of whom have not grown up around Christian influences. In fact, many of them have seen more drug dealers than people imitating Christ. Helping them understand God's Word and the promises in which their faith is rooted is important for them, as well as any Christian. Helping them understand how that faith will be evident in their lives through words, actions and attitudes will be important for all of those around them. On May 13th , Joe McKinney and I will head out for Patos, returning on May 16th . Our goal is to discover church's needs and how to best help them. We will als...

McKinney Report

Search This Blog