Not
an Easy Place to Be
Alaska, land
of contrasts. The beauty of mountain, glacier, and sea, the purity
of air, water, and snow--versus the spiritual darkness of New Age
philosophy, occultism, and shamanism, the heartbreak of alcoholism,
incest, suicide, and rebellion. SEND of Alaska ministers especially
to those living in the most remote regions of the Far North.
Fritz Geffe,
former SEND missionary and Alaska Native, describes Alaska’s spiritual
conditions:
What does it
take to be a missionary in the Far North? Well, it’s a life
of extremes. Long days in summer and long nights in winter. You
have to be crazy enough to begin an impossible task but prudent
enough to depend on God to complete it. You need an urgency to see
souls rescued and the church established, but the patience to wait
the long years to see it happen. Sometimes you need to be qualified
to deal with theological challenges, while  realizing
that you aren’t ever overqualified to pitch in on the manual
labor.
If your heart
is broken by alcoholism, sexual abuse, violence, and death, but
you have the faith to believe that only Jesus can bring true healing
and redemption, you might fit here. You need boldness to preach
God’s coming judgment and wonderful grace, but enough fear
to constantly ask for His strength and power. You need the guts
to engage the powers of darkness in open warfare but the wisdom
to do the fighting on your knees.
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