SOURCES OF STRESS
by Erwin Bourne—March 3, 2002
“I think it’s stress! On the bulletin board in Jean’s
office we display monthly photos that illustrate the
activities of AMA. It’s an immediate eye-catcher.
Visitors to the Casa Grande study the bulletin board
very carefully perchance they might be on exhibit. In
the center of the present arrangement we have
thumb-tacked a drawing of a large zebra. This black
and white striped animal is looking back over his
hindquarters. His black stripes are becoming
unraveled and are trailing on the ground. It is very,
very comical. The zebra is saying: “I think it’s
stress!” Are you coming unwound?
· Finances are a source of stress. Since the
catastrophe of September 11, 2001, religious
organizations have realized a big cutback in their
finances, some large establishments as much as 70%.
We of AMA are definitely feeling the crunch. Pastors
along the Amazon are hurting; and when they hurt, we
hurt. AMA has enterprises ready to be launched. All
this has an affect on our physical health. Oswald
Chambers wrote that waiting on God is one of the
greatest stresses in the Christian life.
People should not be a source of stress
but a source of joy!
· The crowds thronged about Jesus. One woman thought
to herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be
healed” (Mark 5:28 NIV). When Jesus asked, “Who
touched my clothes?” His disciples answered, “You see
the people crowding against you…and yet you can ask,
‘Who touched me?’” Jesus said to the woman, “Daughter,
your faith has healed you.”
We spend hours every day counseling the people of AMA.
“Where do they come from,” you may ask. Sure from
Leticia and Tabatinga. And they come by boat from
distant villages as far as 150 miles up and down the
Amazon. My writings are disturbed daily by visitors
at the Casa Grande. How important it is that in the
predawn hours I have first talked to God about men.
Then I am ready to talk to men about God. Especially
our leaders and pastors need counseling concerning old
and new fields.
Yours for OUTREACH AMAZON
—Erwin and Jean Bourne