Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Feb/88

Contributor - Gordon Forbes

Title - Frantic or Faithful? L.A.M.P.

Topic - Ministries

Five p.m. home from work, 5:20 eat dinner, 5:35 hurry through Bible reading, 5:45 tidy kitchen, 6:00 p.m. leave for board meeting. Monday Cadets, Tuesday swimming, Wednesday Committee Meeting .... Does your life look like this? Ours did, and still does at this point.

Last winter, however, my wife and I felt that somehow we had to get off this not so merry merry-go-round. Sure all of our activities were worthwhile, but they were beginning to take over our lives. After some discussion, we decided to ask my company to allow us a six-month leave of absence. During the period when we were waiting for the approval of our leave, the Lord led us to give that time to Him. The marvelous thing is that after we did all the doors opened in all the right places. Not the way we expected, but the way God wanted it.

Whatever plans we made, the Lord blocked and then gave us new direction, and He led us to give these six months to L.A.M.P. As a result, our family will leave our home in March 1988, and drive 2000 km to McKenzie Island in Red Lake, Ontario. There, at the Linford Hackman Training Centre, we will live and work with Pastor Pilot Iver Torgerson and the 150 others who live on the Island in Northern Ontario.

L.A.M.P. stands for Lutheran Association of Missionary Pilots. It is an independent Missionary Society devoted to a Christian ministry in the sparsely settled areas of Northern Ontario. It is a unique mission adopted and supported by the Reformed Church in America. A large part of L.A.M.P.'s work involves volunteers in mission. People, who like us, feel led by the Lord to dedicate up to year of their lives to working with L.A.M.P. in the north. To prepare volunteers for their tasks, a training and cultural orientation program is attended at the McKenzie Island Center. Much time is spent reading about and discussing native culture and Indian ways. (They generally refer to themselves as Indians and most are not insulted by the term.) Additionally, there are visits to native villages during this training program.

All the communities are isolated, that is they can only be reached by air except for short periods in the winter when there is a brief winter road. Most have nursing stations and all have schools. Volunteers are usually placed where there are resident native pastors. Our particular assigmnent will be quite different, since we will be there for six months instead of a year. We will stay at the McKenzie Island Training Centre and help with program development and new building construction. All volunteers are expected to be self-supporting during their mission experience and must raise approximately $6,000 per individual per year of service.

By the time you read this we will be well into our final preparations to leave with our family for six months away from our church, our friends and our usual comforts and busy schedules. It is exciting to think about and a little frightening, not knowing quite what to expect. We wanted, however, to break our routine and do something meaningful together that will strengthen our family bonds. I believe the enemy has done an effective job of convincing us that unless a person is worn to a frazzle, running here and there, he or she cannot possibly be a dedicated, sacrificing, spiritual Christian. Perhaps the seven deadly sins have recruited another member - overwork.

You might say we are running away, but I believe the Lord calls us to be faithful not frantic. One of my Scripture landmarks is Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight."

We need to remember our strength lies not in our hurried efforts and ceaseless long hours, nor in our striving to prove ourselves, but in our quiet confidence that if we trust Him and acknowledge Him in all we do He will indeed direct our path.

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