Leapfrog
When I saw a leapfrog picture in an airport ad, I couldn't help but think of the five year research process I went through and the lives I encountered in writing my first book Revolutionaries.
We stand, not only on the shoulders of mentors and leaders within our lifetime, but also on the legacy and sacrifice of men and women of God through the centuries.
Many of us don't even know their names .. or their stories. We walk the way we do because of the grace of God through their lives. Many today complain about the secularism of Europe, never realizing much of Europe has come from cannibalism, idolatry and bloody war, saved from this primarily because of Revolutionaries like those I wrote in my book, and many more whose stories we may never know until heaven. Because of their foundation, Europe for over a millenium of Church history remained the premier missionary and world evangelization epicentre; as well as a Scriptural preservation society.
Jesus told his disciples: "Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." (John 4:35-38, NIV)
I love what Reinhard Bonnke shared in one of his memoirs. He is an evangelist from Africa who saw 1.2 million people come to Christ in a single night, on a dusty field in Nigeria in 2001. A missionary from Germany himself, he points to the great prayers and efforts of missionaries like David Livingstone who paid the price so that he could reap the benefits of their labors in the great continent of Africa.
Thank God for those who have gone before. Consider your solemn responsibility to take advantage of this great hour in history. In the truest sense, we are all leapfrogging off the sacrifice and success of men and women of God we will never know.
