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2022, 9 Douma Birch overall carry

Labor With Us!

by Rev. Doug Douma
SOLA–Appalachian Christian Retreat in Unionville, NY
the Missions Banner, October 2022: Print edition

We are excited at Sola to announce that we’re seeking to hire an intern for next summer (2023).  Our preferred applicant is a seminary student, or someone otherwise interested in a career in ministry.  Please contact us or check out our blog post for more information: https://www.discoversola.com/2022/08/intern-with-us-at-sola/

On the subject of work, in one of our daughter’s books the father badger reassures his daughter that the curtains in her room are moving because, “That is the wind’s job.”  He goes on to explain, “Everybody has a job. … I have to go to my office every morning at nine o’clock.  That is my job.  You have to go to sleep so you can be wide awake for school tomorrow.  That is your job.”

Even hikers have a job!  To hike!  Often it is thought that long distance hikers are on a long vacation, but that is only part of the truth.  The reality is that a successful thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail requires perhaps 8 hours of hiking per day.  That is a full day’s job!

As Christians, not only do we have jobs to earn money, but we also have the responsibility to raise our children in the word and the responsibility to proclaim the gospel.

Sometimes it can be tedious and repetitious.  I recently gave a sermon on Joshua 6 and the fall of the Jericho’s wall.  There we see the Israelites walking around and around and around the city.  Once each of the first six days, and seven times on the seventh day.  That’s thirteen total hikes around the city!  No wonder they had to get up early on the seventh day for all that circumambulation!

Our work, our lives, can feel repetitive as well.  We wonder when the walls will come down; when the victory will be won.  But it is God’s business to knock down walls; our business is to obey Him and trust in the Lord’s victory.  So we are called to work for the Lord wherever we are and not be discouraged.

Our work at Sola presses on each day, and it grows each year as more and more hikers find out about our ministry.  With the work here also at our church it can feel like “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  We hope to find someone to labor beside us next summer.  Do you have someone in mind? Is it you?

(Pictured above: Birch at church, enjoying the unique ride overalls provide!)

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