From: Kathi Sharpe [Kathi]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 10:17 AM
To: rich
Subject: opinion?

Rich,

When we got up this morning Bobby refused to get out of bed, saying he wanted to pray first. After about half an hour, he came out and wanted to know if he could tell me what he was praying for. I told him sure, he could tell me. Well, after we left church yesterday morning we answered some of the kids' questions about the rapture, the antichrist, etc. Bobby apparently spent a lot of time thinking about this. He was praying this morning for Jesus to delay His coming until someone (namely Bobby, but he wants to recruit other kids to help) can get into China and work to lead all those people to the Lord.

THEN he comes out with the fact that he's been thinking a lot about the fact that Christians in China and other places get hurt and jailed and killed ("lose their heads" is the way he put it), and that he was willing to take the risk, and all they could hurt is his body, anyways.

All I could do is hug him. He sounded so grown up. He's evidently been putting a lot of thought and prayer into this wish to go to China.

My question to you is, how do you (or do you?) balance the wish (selfish, perhaps?) that Jesus would come right now, the belief that He will come very soon, with the desire we have to tell the world about Him? It would seem that if He's coming soon, we should all become full-time missionaries, because there's so many people and so little time. What can I tell Bobby? Is it wrong for him to pray for Jesus to wait?

Thanks :)
Kathi