On March 4th, Dad and I were rescheduled to fly back to America earlier than originally scheduled so that our lead pastor, Emmanuel, could get rested up and recover from Malaria. Little did I know that Dad would test positive for covid and I would test negative, forcing Dad to quarantine for 14 more days in Ghana, and forcing me to make one of the most difficult decisions I would ever have to make, emotionally speaking…to go home without him.
Time would not permit me to offer the full explanation for why I made this call, as there were MANY variables and factors to prayerfully consider. Suffice it to say, that during the last prayer I prayed with Dad before leaving him, we both wept like little babies.
Then it happened; in that moment, the sweet Holy Ghost did what He always does best, and gave us a comforting thought in the midst of the painful prospects of being separated by distance in these very unusual and difficult circumstances.
For me, here is what He brought to light; we can take comfort in knowing that God, too, relates to the pain of separation. You see, while on the cross, Jesus, the son of God, was separated from His Father in His darkest hour.
For the first and only time in eternity past or future, the Father and the Son were separated! “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
In Jesus’ darkest hour, when He was separated from His Father, He became the substitutionary sacrifice for whosoever will receive Him by faith!
What a glorious thought it is that Jesus, our great High Priest, who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities (see Heb. 4:15), will NOT be separated from us as we face our own pains of earthly separation. He will never leave us, nor forsake us.
So this is where I had to find the strength to trust God, by leaving my earthly father in the hands of my heavenly Father, who will comfort, heal, and sustain him in ways that I never could. This was a personal lesson I had to learn in a very real and practical way.
As for Dad, he is doing well, on prescription meds and antibiotics, and has only mild symptoms. Pray with me and believe that God will bring him home healthy and soon!!
Also please continue to pray for Pastor Emmanuel’s recovery as it is taking longer than usual for him to recover from Malaria (he has had it many times in his lifetime). He was doing better when he dropped me off at the airport, but I have since learned that he is going back to the clinic for more blood work, so he’s not out of the woods yet. Keep believing God with me for his complete recovery!
Now, here is a practical application for the body of Christ in light of the subject of separation…
Whether it’s seeing thousands upon thousands of villagers separated from the hope of the Gospel, remedied only by those who will go reach them…
Or seeing the disconnect between the real needs of the world and the deliberate and willful apathy of so many in church who will never open their eyes to see that the fields are ripe and ready for harvest if they would but help…
The reality is, separation is fatal! It is eternally fatal for the lost who are never reached. It is practically fatal to the life and vitality of any church who chooses to separate themselves from the very work to which they are called.
How can any church claim to be alive, while rotting in their own grave? Here is how; when you choose to separate yourself from your highest calling and purpose, you walk into darkness. When you do so, blindness is an immediate byproduct. We are blind when we walk away from the light.
May God awaken the sleeping giant that is the apathetic average church in America and around the world so that we can rise to the occasion and do what God commissioned us to do!
Do you feel like God wants you to get more involved in missions? If so, visit here to pray if this would be a good place for you to get started! garycaudill.com/ghana-pastor-robert/