Sowing the Word

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in quite some time -- traveling and overcoming jet lag was more difficult than expected. I have many pictures to share, but the internet connection here doesn't seem to be strong enough to upload them, so that will have to wait.

I'll be sure to post details later on what we've been doing since we arrived (meeting the youth group, visiting the barrios or villages with Fr. Joe, getting to know our new neighbors...), but for now I wanted to share two Bible passages that have been on my heart.

As you probably know, the Philippines is a Catholic country. Sometimes we're asked why missionaries would be serving in a place that's already Catholic. Wouldn't it be more worth our time to serve in a non-Christian land? Well, Jesus recently answered that question for me through Scripture.

Isaiah 5 begins with a love song about a man with a vineyard. He carefully tends to his land, hoping it will yield good grapes, but in the end it produces only wild grapes and must be trampled down. As I prayed with this passage, I felt that the Lord was telling me that the Philippines is His vineyard; it has the potential to be a ripe mission field, to produce an abundant harvest, but it desperately needs the witness of zealous Christian evangelists.

I then read from Mark 4, the parable of the sower. It says that the sower sows the word on all different types of soil. Some seeds fall on rocky ground where they cannot take root, and the plants quickly wither in the sun. Jesus explains that this signifies people "who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away." It seemed that the Lord was trying to tell me that people all around the world, Filipinos included, need more than just an initial proclamation of the Gospel. Just having an outline of the basic beliefs of the faith is not enough to sustain you through a lifetime of daily trials and struggles. We must have a living relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must allow the faith to take root in our hearts.

So who will bring new life into the vineyard? And who will till the rocky soil and prepare it to receive the living Word of God? Isaiah 6:8 holds the answer:

"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'"

O Lord Jesus, let us not be afraid to answer Your call. Help us to first cultivate Your Word in our own hearts, and then give us the courage to proclaim it to the world!