“Too bad we hafta go to bed.”

Spoken matter-of-factly. Stated sincerely. Said to no one yet heard by everyone. Everyone, that is, who was on the truck.

At least a dozen of us were seated or standing on the back of a 4 X 4 Landcruiser. We were on safari. No guns, just cameras. We spotted what the African bush had to offer: bushbuck in the thickets and bushbabies in the trees. Sable, Serval and Sitatunga. A proverbial feast for the eyes!It was then that my daughter Rachel made the comment, “Too bad we hafta go to bed.”

If any of you wonder whether the joint Zambia/Malawi missionary family Easter retreats are a blessing to our mission fields, don’t ask the adults, just ask the missionaries’ kids! From my twelve-year old’s perspective, sleep was getting in the way of activities that could be done! Like the fish eagle in the sky, her excitement soared! Her imagination was running like the animals around her: wild! If we didn’t have to go to bed, think of the number of animals we could spot, games we could play, friends we could visit, stories we could hear, fish we could catch, crafts we could make, songs we could sing! Too bad we hafta to go to bed!

Like you, Rachel knows that sleep is as important as it is necessary to function properly. Sleep is a gift God-given. The irony of it all is that Rachel loves to go to bed! At home she’s usually the first one tucked in! But on that safari drive, Rachel was seeing more than game. She was noticing that there were so many opportunities around her – and only a certain amount of time.

I’m glad I went to the Easter Retreat last month. Not because I canoed a pond and caught a fish. But because the Lord restored my soul. Opened my eyes. Invigorated my heart. Increased my passion. Rekindled the fire. The Retreat was, in a sense, a walk with Jesus on the road to Emmaeus. “Were not our hearts burning…?”  Whether the field into which God has placed you is African bush or concrete jungle or country-side farmland, The peace that could be shared! The people who could be saved! What possibilities lie before us! Family. Congregation. Synod. So much to do, so little time. Do you, too, detect urgency in the following statement of Jesus? “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” He’s not saying, “Don’t sleep!” But isn’t He saying, “There’s plenty of work to do!” I suppose He could have given this special gospel work to angels, but he didn’t. He gave it to us.

How would you decribe gospel work? Demanding? Challenging? Scary? Intimidating? Ever think of it as…exciting? Ask the shepherd who finds the lost sheep or the woman who found the lost coin. Is it worth it to save even just one? Jesus believes so. Our Lord reminds us that there is great rejoicing in heaven even when the number of people repenting is just…one! So if indeed our Lord is living and our future is heavenly and our message is saving and our possiblities are many and our time is short, that leaves me pondering only one question… Do we hafta go to bed? Too bad.

Missionary John Holtz