OMETIMES WHEN WE’RE DRIVING, I THINK, WHERE ARE ALL THESE
people going? How can all of them possibly hear the gospel story? How can we reach the people in our own city, let alone the entire world? These questions echoed loudly in my mind during a recent visit to the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia for a mission awareness tour.
Manila traffic is a cacophony of horns as buses, cars, trucks, and the ever-present Jeepneys fill the streets; Bangkok’s highways are like D.C.’s beltway or LA’s I-10 during rush hour. Driving in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap requires a lot of faith in the vehicle—very likely a motorcycle—and its horn, as drivers simply nose out, letting others know they are coming. Somehow it works, and the crush of traffic moves.
Yes, the crush—throngs of people—millions of them in a mass of cities and villages, tiny shacks of wood and cardboard, palatial homes, orphanages—all interspersed with temples, prayers, and offerings to gods that cannot hear. The work in the 10/40 window is huge. In Cambodia alone there are 14 million people with just a handful of workers to reach them. Jesus said: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matt. 9:37). Time is short; we are small. How can we tell the world?
We will do His work, of course. And then? Jesus is the answer. “Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 11).
We can’t begin to comprehend the magnitude of end-time events. Soon Jesus will reveal Himself: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord” (Zech. 4:6).
He will do it. What an awesome time to watch the splendor unfold and experience indescribable joy!
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Judy Thomsen is correspondence editor for the Adventist Review.
