“A ship in harbor is
safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
–William Shedd
For the past six weeks we have
been in a season of new beginnings, docked in a safe harbor. After nine years of our
focus primarily being on Mali, West Africa, specifically two un-reached tribal
groups, we have seen much fruit including at least two solid church plants.
However, in late March, Mali was thrown into turmoil as a result political
upheaval and the violent nature of radical Islam. Sadly, this has sealed off
most of the missionary work within the borders.
My heart was broken. We have a
deep love for the Malians, and not only that we were in the process of training
two teams to travel to Mali in the fall, one to work with the deaf and the
other to work in the tribal regions. I was very frustrated to say the least! My
calling is to work on the frontier mission fields, yet now I did not seem to
have one! But God was at work, although at the time I simply could not see the
hand of God moving.
The months of April and May were
busy on our School to the Nations U.S. Base Campus with projects and the normal
day-to-day issues of a mission organization, yet as the months passed I grew
more anxious and frustrated. It seemed as though the frontiers came to a
screeching halt! Daily I sought the Lord’s leading, but nothing seemed to
develop. For example, I had been pursuing a new field in Southeast Asia and had
been in correspondence with mission partners in that region since last July.
Even though they wanted us to come, because of some leadership restructure on
their end, nothing seemed to be happening. It was during this time in my daily
devotions that a direct word from the Lord came in Paul’s similar story in
Acts: “When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had
arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we
sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone; and with difficulty
sailing past it we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city
of Lasea.” (Acts 27:7-8) Reminded again of the value of learning to “wait upon
the Lord,” I identified with this story, relieved my anxiety and frustration
and simply said to the Lord, “I surrender, you lead. I will wait upon you in my
own ‘Fair Havens’.”
Astonished once again at the
mighty hand of God, in late May the winds of the Spirit began to blow again and
School to the Nations discovered two new opportunities, two new fields in need
of the Gospel! In the words of my wife, “we have already adopted but now are finding out we're pregnant too!” Only through God’s divine workings, our deaf team is now traveling
to Botswana, Africa to evangelize and church plant among the deaf in that part
of the world. A few days after hearing this news, a phone call from Southeast
Asia came and we now are very close to sending our first vision team into a
remote area of jungle to explore at least three options of tribal unreached groups
that we anticipate to adopt as a new work begins.
As we come to a time when we are
pulling up the anchor and leaving the safety of the harbor to sail the high
seas of God’s global purpose, we are amazed at the work of the Holy Spirit
which has made it possible to “Penetrate the Final Frontiers for the Glory of
Jesus by Mobilizing the Next Generation to the Nations!”
“My soul, wait
silently for God alone…”
Psalm 62:5
For His Glory,
Randy & Maureen Copeland
