Given with Love
a story from Belle's Bandwagon
click the pictures to enlarge them
It
was a pretty cool day in Papua New Guinea. The country was having its
"rainy season" and only a little sun was shining. But that
didn't stop the beautiful green of the mountains, and gorgeous colors of
the tropical flowers.
Several
of us had come from the "States." We had flown for lots and lots
of hours in an airplane from Florida to hold special crusades in certain
areas of the island of Papua, New Guinea. How we loved the people. Such
loving, giving hearts! Everywhere we went, these beautiful island people
gave us the best they had.
Way out in the "bush country," over very rough
roads, through little towns we went. The road seemed empty - until the
people heard the sound of the vehicle coming. Here came the children! It
seemed like they came out of nowhere. Running, barefoot, over the rocky
path - coming to greet the ones from America. To a humble church building
off the side of the road they wanted us to come. We went. There weren't
any seats like we have in America. The worshipers sat on the floor, and up
in front they had set a small wooden table. On the table they had several
drinks waiting for us. Given with love.
One man and his family even moved completely out of
their house, and let our missions team stay there for the week we were
there!
But
one special girl really touched my heart. In Papua New Guinea, the ladies
make special carrying bags called bilum's. They are very beautiful and
range from small to large - a little like your mom's carry purses over
here. In New Guinea, everything goes in a bilum. Bilums can carry
vegetables from the garden, bilums can even be used like cradles and put
babies to sleep, and bilums showed to me God's love.
You see, there was a young lady there that had only one
bilum. Not many, just one. After one of the services she came to me and
told me she wanted me to have her bilum as a gift. I wanted to protest, to
tell her I could get other bilums she needed to keep that one. But to turn
away her gift would have made her feel bad. She wanted to give her thanks
to us for coming, by giving me the best thing she possessed, her only
bilum. It was given with love, the love of God.
God
gave the best He had too - for you and for me. He gave His only Son,
Jesus, to die on the cross, so we could receive freely His gift of
salvation. That's a true gift of love! When we don't accept His gift, we
make Him feel bad - and it makes us feel bad, too. When we accept Jesus,
and His plan for our lives, God's love comes into our hearts. He gives us
His joy. Let's be sure we've accepted God's gift to us. Then, let's show
others God's love this month.
