We haven't had a chance to blog about much of our time in Argentina so I'll try to bullet point some of it while I can. You know me ... the details will follow, as I like the details more than the general ideas in my writing!
When we stepped off the plane in Buenos Aires on April 18, the city had been subjected to a month's worth of smoke from the burning of grass (and possibly trash) in the surrounding areas. Every Argentine, including the DeWeeses, were sick of the fumes as they were incredibly pungent and the morning Greg came to pick us up at the airport, the smoke made visibility only about 1 block and a ½. Having grown up in Manila … I felt like I had stepped off the plane and landed in the Philippines. I actually felt quite at home! =) It was quite bothersome, but thanks to Greg’s warning before we left, we brought our allergy meds and it helped out a lot with the sneezing. Unfortunately, there were many people who were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation … I can only imagine what a month’s worth of it would do.
Our first night there, Jordan and I prayed for the burning to stop, for rain to come, or for the winds to blow the smoke away. On Saturday morning, there was still smoke. On Sunday … and every day we were there after that … there was no smoke! PRAISE GOD! Either the burning had stopped or the winds had taken it towards another area, but we enjoyed some beautiful weather and clear skies the rest of our time in Bs. As.
Greg preached a sermon that following Sunday at International Baptist Churchand he commented on how the smoke and everyone's typical reaction of repulsiveness to that smoke was just a small picture of the ugliness and stench of our sin before God. Interestingly enough, my first thought upon smelling the smoke as we exited the airport was, “This is a tangible reminder to me of the reality of hell … and how many people here in this city who will be going there because they have not responded to (nor heard) the gospel of Jesus Christ.” So, even though I was glad that the smoke did leave our area and did give us some reprieve, I was thankful for the picture it gave me of the reason we were there in the first place … to point people to a Savior who can save them from an eternity apart from him.
Pray for the people of Bs. As. There will be a long list which we will share later, but I’d like to close this post with a request for prayer for those who have no idea of the spiritual ramifications of their sin and their lack of surrender to the Savior of mankind. How gracious is our God to bring all this to our attention because of some smoke …
No comments:
Post a Comment