THE BIG PICTURE

November 9 

Behold, we have left everything and followed You. What then will there be for us? Matthew 19:27b

We had a GREAT National Conference this year! I only wish that everyone in our CGBCI churches could have been there—but hopefully, in one way or another, our powerful Conference Theme (“Aspire to Something Higher”) will be communicated to those folks back home who were unable to be there.   

One feature that I especially treasured was a daily reflection upon various heroes of our Brethren Faith—that “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) who were “all in” for Jesus.  One such person was Angie Garber (1912-2006)—aunt of Pastor Peer—who dedicated her life unto God’s service through years of ministry unto the Navajo Nation. At face value, some might be tempted to regard this as a difficult and obscure ministry in a desolate land amongst a dispossessed people—a thankless labor that outwardly offered limited earthly benefits and few tangible results. 

In a short video filmed during the latter portion of her life, an interviewer asked Angie to consider the alternate existence that she might have lived, had she not chosen to come to the desert. “Do you ever thing about those things you gave up?”  

Her response was stark and unforgettable. Dismissively waving her hand, she in turn asked the correspondent: “What [things]?”  

“WHAT” indeed! Jesus knows how to compensate His own with an extravagance that is infinitely beyond the pale of our present comprehension, as we see in His response to Peter’s question (Matthew 19:27-29).   

“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus; life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ; one glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase; so bravely run the race till we see Christ.” (Esther Rusthoi). 

Terry L. Reese