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DRY BONES!
Dear Family and Friends,
This last month our Aruamu exegetical checking team (Steven Dazim, Siria Ransford, and I) have been checking our way through the book of Ezekiel. What a fabulous book! While many of the Old Testament prophets’ books have really dark doom-and-gloom content, Ezekiel has a tone of hope and reverence to it. The context of the book is that Ezekiel together with most of the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. Through Ezekiel, God speaks hope to his people.
Ezekiel chapter 37 has a very famous vision of dry bones coming to life. God shows Ezekiel a vision of a valley filled with the bones of dead people. He tells Ezekiel to prophecy to them that breath would enter those bones. Ezekiel spoke forth God’s Word, and the bones began to rattle, move, join themselves together, and be covered with muscle and skin. And a huge army of God was formed out of the hopeless carnage that was in that valley.
One striking thing in this account that jumped out at us was the fact that Ezekiel was speaking forth GOD’S WORD over that bleak situation. God could have acted himself to bring life to the bones. But he chose to use Ezekiel. God could have used any other method to breathe life into devastation. But it was when Ezekiel went and faithfully spoke God’s Words to the bones in that dry valley, they were brought to life. God used the power of his Word to change everything.
We found ourselves feeling very privileged to have a part in translating his Word, living and active and powerful. We found ourselves feeling hopeful, that in this fallen world, God is very much at work through his Word and through his people.
Thank you so much for partnering with us this last month!
For Kingdom Expansion,
Marsha Relyea Miles
(for Nathan Miles, as well as Steven Dazim and Siria Ransford)
Thank you very much to all the folks who have been blessing them with items to take back to Papua New Guinea with them. One remaining thing: Steven is hoping to take back a smart phone, with a camera. If anyone has a smart phone which you are replacing with a new one, and you are looking for something creative to do with it, would you consider mailing it to Dallas, for Steven to take back? (It would need to be unlocked, and work on the digicel network in PNG; here is a link to find out if it is compatible:http://\https://www.frequencycheck.com/carriers/digicel-papua-new-guinea You can call me (cell number below) to discuss this.
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