Dad, why are we going to Papua New Guinea?

That’s the kind of question we thought we had covered in our house.  But the other night after reading the Bible and praying, one of our children—the one who usually asks really great intuitive questions—asked, “Why are we going to Papua New Guinea?”

Here’s what I said to this child.

“Child, (who will remain nameless)…let’s say there is a sinking boat full of people in shark-filled waters in the ocean.  And we also are in a boat in the ocean.  We see these people sinking, heading to destruction; why should we go and help those people?”

Child thinks for a moment.  “Because we love them?”

“Yes, that’s one reason. We love these people and we don’t want them to perish.  And we can rescue them!!”

Child sits and thinks a bit more, then brings another intuitive follow-up question.

“Why don’t we then go and save all the people, everywhere?  Like people in China, people in Africa—don’t they need rescuing?  Why go to Papua New Guinea where there are jungles, and mosquitoes, and jungles, and more jungles….?”

To which I respond, “We can’t go everywhere, nameless child.  When Mommy and Daddy were thinking about going somewhere, we heard about Papua New Guinea; how hard it is to get there and how many people there don’t know Jesus. Since then, the direction has been Papua New Guinea.”

So, why are we going to Papua New Guinea?

Like the analogy above, this is a rescue mission.  People are dying every day in remote tribes in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.  They are living lives enslaved to sin and have never heard that God forgives sinners!  He doesn’t forgive them because of some good work they do, but because they believe Jesus Christ and His work on the cross to save them from their sins.

What’s more is that I once was on a sinking boat—a boat I wanted to be on.  And someone came and rescued me—not with a boat, not with a life-vest, but with a message.  The message of Jesus Christ.  And so we want to go and rescue others and tell them about this merciful God who saves sinful people and sent his Son to die on a cross for their sins.