Flip through the pages of this issue and you’ll see stories about people who do things that don’t make a lot of sense. (And we’re not just talking about the
guy who runs 100-plus miles at a time.)
Most of us know about
Dr. Kent Brantly. The Christian physician received criti
cism from those who failed to understand why he put himself at risk to serve those suffering from a deadly virus.
He’s not alone.
Dr. Lisa Dunham left the comforts of home to treat the underserved people of Guatemala through Health Talents International. Then there’s
Dr. Bob Whittaker, a British-born, Christian physician who served for a quarter-century at Nigerian Christian Hospital. In 2009, Whittaker was shot in the arm as kidnappers abducted him from his home and held him for ransom.
No one would have blamed Whittaker and his wife, Annette, for leaving Africa. But now the couple is hard at work in Swaziland, building a clinic to treat patients, including those with HIV and AIDS, which kills more than 1 million people in Africa each year. They are advocates of mosquito nets to protect Africans from malaria, which claims more than a half-million lives each year — many of them children under age 5.
We pray that more believers will step out in faith and do things that don’t make sense to the rest of the world.
That can mean forsaking a lucrative medical career to serve the less fortunate. It can mean running hundreds of miles to raise money for clean water wells. It can mean serving the people in need in our own communities. (See our story about Corners Outreach in Atlanta.)
Christ calls us to be the light of the world, “that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) In that light, the actions of these souls make all the sense in the world.