McGrady's Mission Moment
August 14, 2009
Never Too Old!
Ever think that you were just too old to do missionary work? We returned to our call to missions during our mid-life and found that God has blessed us beyond what we could have imagined. But how about if you were 84 years old? Do you think you could do anything for the Lord in missions? Well let me tell you the story about my mom. When Jordan and I returned to Ecuador on July 27, my 84 year old mother along with my brother and his wife joined us. Our trip flying from Columbus, Ohio to Guayaquil, Ecuador met with many delays and we spent 21 hours to get there from the time we got up till we finally went to bed that night. But we were safe and for that we were thankful. We spent a couple of days
traveling around Guayaquil visting our churches and meeting some of the people there. The picture above on the left is my mom and I greeting some of the congregation. We saw first hand that there is a great harvest field of people to reach with the Gospel and our pastors are reaching out to make a difference in their communities.
We traveled by plane up to Cuenca where we live and have re-planted the church there. We took in many sites of the city as well as visting the Ruins at Inga Pirca.
It was amazing to learn the history of the Canare people as they were conquered by the Inga Indians and then later by the Spanards. We learned that the people of this area went from worshiping the moon to worshiping the sun to the catholic influence of the cross. See below the face of an Inga Indian carved
in the mountain. It was amazing to see engineering feats that would have taken place with out the use of modern day tools. Huge rocks were cut and carved and transported across mountains with out the aid of the wheel. We truly enjoed seeing all of these amazing sites.
We learned a lot about the history of the people that God has called us to minister to and my mom took it all in.
Well, the week moved on and it was time to prepare for our first Sunday back at "The Carport Church" at our home in Cuenca. We had been traveling in the USA since June 10 and we returned ready to worship. My mom preaches every Sunday back in Rockbridge, Ohio. She has been a lay speaker for years and has a two point charge that she preaches at every Sunday. Did I mention that she is 84 years old? Well she was ready to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people here in Cuenca, Ecuador. On Sunday, August 2, my mom preached to the congregation of 24 persons in our house church that God planted earlier this year. She told the people of Christ's love for them and how she was saved as a young girl and Jesus took all her fears away and gave her a peace in her heart that has lasted all these years. She shared the hope that only Jesus Christ can bring to the heart. It was my privilege to translate my mom words into Spanish. What a blessing it was for me and for all the church to hear her heart. Who says that you are ever too old to serve the Lord anywhere? My mom proved to me, you're not! What are you getting ready to do for Him? You're never too old.
For the latest go to http://straightpaths.org/default.aspx For our August Newsletter "Never Too Old" go to http://straightpaths.org/news.aspx For the latest in Jordan's ministry, go to http://straightpaths.org/jordanscorner.aspx God Bless You,Ned, Marlene and Jordan
