Piercing the Darkness Vignette #4: Hungry Soldiers

Why do you study the Bible?  Some study to satisfy their curiosity.  Some study out of religious duty or aspirations.  But the team of a dozen Brazilian and American young people that we were with in Fortaleza are more like a squad of soldiers in a field camp on the front lines scarfing up some nourishment and getting equipped for what they will face in a few hours.  I probably apply only 10% of what I know.  But these young men and women are marked by radical obedience to everything they hear God saying.
 
What could we teach such warriors?  We taught them what Paul taught in his letters to Timothy, his spiritual son and fellow solder: Watch over your heart; Watch over your teaching; Watch over the gifts entrusted to you.  We also taught them what we are learning about spiritual warfare, missional community, the love of money, vulnerability and spiritual disciplines.
 
But in all of these areas my family and I learned more from them than they learned from us.  I¹m determined to be more like them in radical obedience.
 
Many of us long for the kind of missional community these young Brazilians are experiencing.  We want to experience missional community in the safety of our comfortable lives.  But they are experiencing the kind of bonding that happens only on a battlefield.
 
We left our son Hudson in Fortaleza to join his sister Nicole Lorelei in this band of brothers and sisters.  Some of them are soon heading out by faith from Fortaleza to Mozambique and Nepal, determined to go the hardest places in Jesus' name.
 
Answer to Prayer:  These are truly people of whom the world is not worthy.  Here are a few photos of these hungry soldiers doing what they do: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100841267@N06/sets/72157635248273898/.