Refreshing Look

Jake Haskew and his wife Amanda are serving with a missionary team of four couples in Vienna, Austria. He has ‘hit the nail on the head’ about what it’s like to share the Bible with people who are educated but have never really read God’s Word. I ask you to read this and think about it from the perspective of the student. - tl

Refreshing Look

Jake Haskew - Vienna Austria

“Imagine growing up hearing numerous stories of a far away land. Tales of adventure, tales of happiness and joy, sadness and pain. Imagine having all kinds of questions about these stories that are never answered. Imagine wanting to hear more of these stories but not being able to read them, only listen to a storyteller. Imagine people around you knowing about this land and speaking about this land but finding out they have never been there.

Imagine a growing confusion about this land, questioning whether it exists, wondering if you’ll ever know the truth. Then imagine going on with life, ever wondering, ever thinking, but too busy with everyday tasks to seek out this land for yourself. Then imagine you win an all expense paid trip to this land. What do you do first?

What questions do you ask? All those previous thoughts, ideas, questions, feelings come flooding back as you start out to discover this land for the first time wanting to know everything, questioning everything, soaking it up like a sponge so that you won’t forget.

Some days it’s just habit. Open up the Bible to where I left off and begin reading... Israel once again rejects God and is now going to be punished...the kingdom of heaven is like...to the church at Corinth...etc. What if every time you open the Bible there is something new to discover?

“Such is the case of someone reading it for the first time. Details missing from a story are filled in. Questions are answered or freely discussed and new questions are discovered. A world that seemed so far away and distant is suddenly real, exciting, dangerous, and alive.

“I have the privilege to read the Bible once a week with someone who is experiencing all these things for the first time. Vicariously I live out those things as well and always feel I miss something when we are not able to read together.

“This is what is happening in Vienna. This is what we want to happen in the world. It’s refreshing, its challenging, it’s tiring, but it’s wonderful. I pray everyone will get a chance to have this experience and I pray for my reader that their journey never ends.”

This pretty well sums up what we do when we go to Sopot, Poland except that with many of our students, we are sharing with them more than once a week. We help our students learn, not just to read English using the Bible, but to understand what they are reading. It is a thrill to watch them become absorbed in what they are reading and then begin to realize that the Bible is not a book just for religious leaders but for each individual to read for himself or herself.

To borrow Jake’s statement - this is what is happening in the Gdynia-Sopot-Gdansk tri-city area of Poland. And you are a part of that by helping us and the Jesches go (and others who have gone or will go) to be God’s servants along with the Dawidow family. Keep us in your prayers and pray that there will be enough teachers commit to make this outreach continue on a regular basis.

And keep the Haskews and their team in your prayers. Amanda is due to give birth to their second child soon.

See you when the Saints meet, Lord willing.

Love, Tony