FOCUSING ON ETERNAL INSTEAD OF TEMPORAL
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| Karl and a helper translating Bible lessons. |
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May 2, 2008
by David Bell
After someone recently broke into the house of Karl and Maribeth Greeb's co-workers, Madak leaders in Papua New Guinea and others were embarrassed and came to the Greebs with a solution.
A couple of Madaks told the Greebs "to hire a man that has the power to find the thief using a piece of bamboo. The bamboo is supposed to pull and lead the people holding it to the person that is guilty."
"How does the bamboo know who the thief is?" wrote Karl. "The owner of this special bamboo would use an incantation to call on ancestor spirits to indwell the bamboo. These dead ancestors somehow know who the guilty man is and they would move the bamboo to point to the person that broke into our co-workers house."
Of course, the Greebs declined the offer.
Karl is currently working on another solution. He is preparing 70 Bible lessons that will introduce the Madak people to Christ and offer them a different way of thinking.
The lessons start with the God of Creation and cover thematic highlights throughout Scripture, ending with the ascension of Christ.
"We have been pleasantly surprised by the unprecedented arrival of Madak men in my office to help me write the foundational Bible lessons," wrote Karl. "It is an absolute first since we moved here in 2001."
Lesson preparation "has been rewarding, but incredibly challenging," Karl wrote. "Please pray I would keep pressing on despite the challenges, and that I would be accurately communicating the truth of God's Word in Madak."
"I have another 50 lessons to write before we can start teaching. We are a little discouraged by the slower than hoped progress of these lessons, but pray with us to be willing to teach when God wants us to and not a day sooner."
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