Jungle Pastors and Joseph

Lately I find myself drawn to stories of those who go to places I've only seen through the lens of someone else's camera just to share God's love.  I'm challenged by the current read written by Kelly Minter.  She's found a passion for those who live along the river deep in the Amazon rainforest.  Tales of flooding waters and anacondas...of jungle pastors traveling days in canoes just to love those God has placed in their care.  Sitting on my comfy couch with the air conditioner blowing and the drier tossing clothes I didn't wash by hand, I'm struck by this one small paragraph.

Gloria regularly reminds me of the differences in our cultures.  "You Americans get down here and whenever you see something hard, you all sit on the boat and try to figure out why.  That's not how we think here."  The people I've met in the jungle don't seem to view suffering as a reason to lose their faith or deem God cruel or unjust.  They don't see their suffering as something to figure out.  Not that the goal is to grow callous to or live in denial of the great injustices and hardships in life; rather, it's the joy of discovering Christ as we plod with a limp or wince with a thorn, knowing what it means to fellowship in His suffering.--Kelly Minter, Wherever the River Runs

It's true,  I spend lots of time thinking about why suffering exists.  How to stop it from happening in my life again. After all who doesn't want to live on Easy Street.

This week we explore Joseph' story.  Joseph lived a hard life.  Sold into slavery by his own brothers.  Imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.  Years spent without family or friends...years wondering what had become of his father...years alone.  That was Joseph's life.  Throughout the story of Joseph's life you never hear him say, "Why?"  He just seemed to take each new circumstance and somehow serve the God that allowed it all to happen. 

If you take the story at face value, Joseph got the raw end of the deal.  But, if you take a look at the entire story things might seem a little different.  God begins to build a nation through Abraham and by the time Joseph comes along that new nation is growing.  Still famine is coming and God's family must be fed.  And so God chooses Joseph to rescue His people.  When he sees his brothers for the first time he says,

And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.  For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping.  But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  Genesis 45

Maybe Joseph and the jungle pastors are on to something.  Maybe the why doesn't really matter at all.  For if we consider that all is God's plan and we believe that He uses all things together for our good our focus just might change.

 As a parent we can also help our children refocus in hard times.  We might challenge them to look beyond the difficult issue they are facing to see what God is up to.  Ask them to imagine what God might be teaching them in the face of peer pressure or  a misunderstanding with their BFF.  Encourage them to think of what is possible instead of the impossible like getting a passing grade on their math test instead of the A.  Reality is that hard times happen and things aren't always fair, but we serve a God that uses hard times, difficult circumstances and the unfairness in our lives all for our own good and ultimately the good of the entire world.