Needs

One thing a person finds when traveling to developing countries is the amount of need that the rest of the world has. Living in North America, we often grow accustomed to a comfortable lifestyle, where a choice of food and clothing is taken for granted, not to mention other luxuries which we accept as normal (TV, computers, etc.). We lose sight of what our needs are, thinking that we deserve what we have. Other needs which our society recognizes as genuine are the “need” for acceptance, the “need” for peace, or the “need” for love.

By labeling our desires as needs we tend to forget the importance of our true needs. I like the way Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones puts it:

“Our supreme need, our only need, is to know God, the living God, and the power of his might. We need nothing else. It is just that, the power of the living God, to know that the living God is among us and that nothing else matters…I say, forget everything else. Forget everything else. We need to realize the presence of the living God amongst us. Let everything else be silent. This is no time for minor differences. We all need to know the touch of the power of the living God.”

Certainly we have legitimate needs. We need food to provide our bodies with nourishment. We need clothing to keep ourselves warm. In places like Alberta we need shelter to protect ourselves from the cold. Most importantly, however, we need God.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news, we had a fire alarm this morning. A girl on 3rd put iced poptarts in a toaster, which produced quite a bit of smoke. So, rather than enjoying a nice cup of hot coffee and a relaxed Sunday morning before church, I got to go stand outside in the snow. Well, at least we had fun out there, and our stuff didn’t burn up.

I’m at the halfway point for my time at Prairie before leaving for Guatemala. One week into things, I have done a ton of paperwork getting ready for Guatemala, read a bunch of books for class, spent time with friends, and enjoyed the snow.

We leave for Guatemala at 2:30 Saturday morning. Be praying for safe travel and no problems, as we’re flying through the U.S. and get to enjoy the increased restrictions.

Thanks