Being Engaged in the Market Place HARVEST NO TES


by ROGER REIMER


As I closed a Bible study one day in our clinic near Pifo, on the slopes of the Andean mountains, a visiting optometry tech asked me to explain what the words and numbers were all about in a book he was read- ing. I thought, “Words and numbers ... what could he be talking about?” I told him to bring the book with him to our next weekly Bible study. When he brought the book, I quickly recognized the book as a Spanish translation of a Chuck Swindoll book; the words and numbers he didn’t understand were scripture referenc- es. So I quickly used a Bible and explained that those words were the names of books in the Bible. He would need to find the name of the book and the page num- ber where the book was. Then I explained the number system with chapters and verses. I further explained


that these Biblical references were an illustration of the subject that the author of the book was writing about. The expression on his face reflected that a light of understanding had come on; he now understood what the words and numbers were all about. Those are some of the most meaningful experiences I have from my life as a Global Partner in the context of a clinic in the market place.


On the wall of my office, I have a painting of a


door from colonial Quito alongside a copy of Samuel Shoemaker’s “Apologia for My Life” and I quote one phrase from that document that said:


The most tremendous thing in the world is for men to find that door — the door to God. The most important thing any man can do is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands, and put it on the latch — the latch that only clicks and opens to the man’s touch. Men die outside that door, as starving beggars die on cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter — die for want of what is within their grasp, they live, on the other side of it — live because they have found it. Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it, and open it, and walk in, and find Him ... So I stay near the door.”


Lois and I are leading a Bible study with a couple


who are new to their personal faith in Jesus Christ. Each time we get together they have questions about their new found faith and we are able to share from our own experiences. Helping them find answers for the foundation of their faith is one of the most reward- ing investments of our time that we can make.


So what are some of the ways that you can reflect


your faith in the context of the world in which you work and live as part of the global market place?


Roger Reimer grew up in the FEBC. He served as a Global Partner for 40 years. Now, he is the chair of the Commis- sion on Global Partnerships within the FEBC.


FELLOWSHIP FOCUS, JUNE/JULY 2021 12


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