Four Little Ducks

I had a moment of real sadness realizing I could give away all my food and spend all my money and there would still be hungry people here! Whatever I give is just a drop in the bucket, so the enemy would like us to forget about trying to help entirely. The lie is, “don’t bother to give at all, it’s just a drop in the bucket.” But the truth is that every drop saves lives, whether it is money for food, medicine or school. And the money given towards God's kingdom here helps save souls.

I gave a 100-franc bill to a Congolese grandma. She seemed happy to get it, but then I was horrified later to find out it was only 10 cents! Are my drops in the bucket this valuable to someone here?

Yesterday I met a translator from the Lendu team. He had to flee with his family through the woods when the conflict here broke out. I asked him how many children he had, and he said five, but one of them died. Now there are only four.

Later that day, I sat reading a nursery rhyme to four-year-old Amooti and seven-year-old Maziga. The rhyme was about a mother duck with five ducklings who go out to swim one day.

“Mother duck says, ‘quack, quack, quack, quack.’
But only four little ducks came back.”

At the end of the rhyme, after all disappear one-by-one, eventually all five ducklings come back. I could not help thinking of that Lendu translator whose little one will never come back to him and his wife.

Yet he bravely continues to serve God and to teach his children to serve Him as well. He is not bitter, and he has forgiven his enemies.
He works on the translation even though the pay is meager and just looks to God to provide.

As he told about his exile, I thought of the people in Hebrews 11:37-38

“They wandered about... being destitute, afflicted, tormented--of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.”

I do not feel worthy to be in the presence of this brother, but I thank God I can help support his vision through my job with Wycliffe. This man should never have to ask for anything. Christians like me should be lining up for the honor of supporting his work.

- Borghy