Jerusalem, in the life of our Lord, represents the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will. Jesus said, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30). Seeking to do “the will of the Father” was the one dominating concern throughout our Lord’s life. And whatever He encountered along the way, whether joy or sorrow, success or failure, He was never deterred from that purpose. “. . . He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem . . .” (Luke 9:51). The greatest thing for us to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfill God’s purpose, not our own. In the natural life our ambitions are our own, but in the Christian life we have no goals of our own. We talk so much today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, and our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament the only aspect that is brought out is the compelling purpose of God. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you . . .” (John 15:16).
We are not taken into a conscious agreement with God’s purpose— we are taken into God’s purpose with no awareness of it at all. We have no idea what God’s goal may be; as we continue, His purpose becomes even more and more vague. God’s aim appears to have missed the mark, because we are too nearsighted to see the target at which He is aiming. At the beginning of the Christian life, we have our own ideas as to what God’s purpose is. We say, “God means for me to go over there,” and, “God has called me to do this special work.” We do what we think is right, and yet the compelling purpose of God remains upon us. The work we do is of no account when compared with the compelling purpose of God. It is simply the scaffolding surrounding His work and His plan. “He took the twelve aside . . .” (Luke 18:31). God takes us aside all the time. We have not yet understood all there is to know of the compelling purpose of God.

















One of which is the Amazing tribe called the Korowi of West Papua. They are unique in so many ways, but the most distinctive part of their lives is their living domiciles atop the trees. Sometimes soaring above 40 feet, these tree houses afford the Korowi relief from the floods, insects, and rival clans. This journey will no doubt be long and difficult, but to be able to preach the word of God to those who do not know will be a blessing. Another journey we will undertake this coming year will be a trip to the Chernobyl area. The Chernobyl region is well known for the nuclear reactor meltdown in ‘86 which left a huge amount of land and cities surrounding the disaster site unfit for human living. The high amounts of radiation levels caused cancer, especially in young children, and took the lives of many. Now, in 2011, most areas around Chernobyl are still unsafe for human residents, but some older citizens who once inhabited the region have decided to return to live out their final years.
Many of these residents are senior citizens who lived their whole lives under communist rule, which means they are very unaware of the message of the Gospel. These elderly Ukrainians and Belarusians know the area they are living in is dangerous, but they also know they haven’t got long on earth either. This mission is dangerous, not only for the exposure to radiation, but also because the Chernobyl area is filled with wild dogs and boars that are predatory in nature, even to humans, since the area has been deserted for so long. Also, certain criminal factions use this area as smuggling routes and hideouts since they know police will not peruse them into radiation zones.
