prisoners of despair...or prisoners of hope?

prisoners of despair...the A Che people

39,000 people who live in remote regions of the Yunnan province of China

no Bible in their language

no one who even speaks their language

can't read or speak Chinese, the language of their countrymen

so utterly unknown and uncared for that they have never even been listed in a missions organization's list of unreached people groups

prisoners of despair..."In the past, they claim they were closer to the gods, but then their line of communication with the Creator was broken. Therefore, they are now unable to enter heaven" (joshuaproject.net).

thus, they believe in a multiplicity of gods that they have no hope of ever gaining favor with

the words of their Creator that would set them free and give them life are not even available to them in their own language, and there is no project underway for making them available

the A Che...prisoners of despair, of Satan, and of the futile ways they have inherited from generations before them

do you see them, Father?

You do see..."from heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind..."

will you also overlook them, Jesus?

no, You won't..."I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb..."

did You really mean every language, Father? even the unknown language of the A Che? did You really mean every people and tribe, Lord? even these 39,000 who are enslaved to darkness and to whom the rest of the world is oblivious? even them, Jesus?

yes.

even them.

they, too, have been formed in His image. they, too, have the knowledge of God that stares them in the face every morning when they wake up and see the same sunrise that i see day after day. for them, too, Christ died. and His work is not complete until they, too, glorify His name.

and what will it take to reach them?

how will they call on Him of whom they have not believed? and how will they believe in the One of whom they have never heard? and how will they hear without a messenger?

a messenger who sees the beauty of Christ with such clarity that no obstacle is too large to take His name to a people who are still waiting to learn of it. whose faith in the living God is so real and vibrant that no challenge will daunt them and no darkness will seem impenetrable. who are willing to be made like their Master, who became like a seed that falls into the ground and dies in order to bear much fruit.

a messenger who will have to be stirred and shaken by Almighty God before they will surrender whatever is holding them back from venturing out in faith on a mission that the world would call foolhardy and ridiculous.

shake and stir that person, Father. make the Word like a blazing fire in their bones that would burn them up if they dared to keep silent. don't let them love their families or their homes or their safety or their comfort more than they love Your name, more than they desire that You be lifted high among the nations. send them forth to the A Che people with love, power, and reckless abandon.

is it i, Lord? or is it one who reads these words even now? O God, forbid that we would deny You if You are calling us..."to hope's end we ride and to heart's breaking" (J.R.R. Tolkien, Return of the King).

and let those who now walk in darkness see a great light. let the prisoners of Satan's waterless, hopeless pit become prisoners of hope (Zechariah 9:11-12).

"For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed..." (Tolkien, Return of the King)