Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Baptist Refrigerators: For More Than Potluck Leftovers

Have you ever seen a Baptist's refrigerator? Under a clutter of magnets there's always a dozen of those glossy postcards with family photos and little maps on them that they pass out at missions conferences. You might be a Baptist if you've got more pictures of other people's families on your fridge than you do your own. Seriously, I think some people collect and trade them.

Phyllis: I'll swap you two Send Internationals for your New Tribes.
Carol: Only if you throw in that AWANA.
Phyllis: But they're not even foreign. They hardly count!
Carol: Doesn't matter. The kids still look kinda weird.

Or maybe the postcards serve as some sort of dietary aid? You're up at 2am. That last slice of apple pie is calling your name. But first you have to get past the smiling faces of people sharing the love of Jesus with starving refugees. Of course, if you're like me, you then remember that you can't send any or all of them your pie, and it'd be a shame for it to go to waste. So you just eat the pie and go back to bed.

Just do a Google Image search for "Missionary Family." The entire results page is my grandparents' refrigerator.


Growing up, I'd look at my grandparents' olive green refrigerator (what I could see of it behind all the postcards) and think I'd never do anything like that. Although, if I had an appliance that ugly I might use whatever was free and available to cover it up too. But I digress....

Last week I got a prayer card from a very special family who is headed to Togo. These aren't people I once saw behind the pulpit at a weekend missions conference. Even though I don't see them often enough, I consider them friends. Without hesitation, I put the prayer card on my refrigerator. And I'm non-denominational! But really, what else was I going to do with it?

If you'd like to support them financially or in prayer, or just find out where there's a country named after Dorothy's dog (oh wait, that was Toto? Never mind), I encourage you to check out their blog, Mallays On A Mission or Facebook page. If you ask real nice, I'll bet they'll even send you a prayer card of your very own. Because I won't trade you mine.

Not even for that AWANA one with the weird looking kids.

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