Week Four

Strength for the journey

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:30-31, NIV). 

At his rural home near Matanzas, Cuba, the front porch is a sacred place for retired Baptist pastor Víctor González Sr.

Before his wife died more than four years ago, the two of them prayed together there every morning. They interceded for lost people in Cuba and across the globe.

Víctor misses his wife and prayer partner, of course, but he isn't sitting around feeling sorry for himself. He still starts each day on the porch, reading God's Word and praying for the world. He prays, too, for the people he'll meet that day and for strength to go share the Gospel with them.

Then Víctor, 88, sets out on foot, walking for hours along rugged roads in the mountainous countryside. He stops at homes along the way and tells everyone he meets the good news of Jesus. "I go out to evangelize almost every day," he says. 

Víctor has been serving as a "walking evangelist" since he retired as a pastor 16 years ago. At the time, "I said, 'I'm not going to sit around with my hands crossed. I want to keep working!'" he remembers.

God used a familiar Scripture passage to call Víctor to this new chapter of his ministry. "I opened the Bible to Isaiah 40:30-31," he recalls, paraphrasing those verses. "Young people will weaken ... Those who wait on the Lord will have new strength. I said, 'Lord, that's what I need!' I was aware when I retired at 72 that I needed strength. I asked for strength to walk kilometers and kilometers, and the Lord strengthened me."

Relying on God's power, last year Víctor made 2,640 home visits-all on foot-to share the Gospel. That's an average of 220 visits per month, about seven visits per day. 

Today, Víctor's still going strong, with no signs of slowing down. "Pray that the Lord will lengthen my life, to be able to keep working in the Lord's service," he says.

"There's a promise in the Bible that one day all the nations of the world will know the Lord," Víctor continues. "We want one day to see one another there gathered in the great family in Heaven, without distinction of race or class. That will be a day of rejoicing."

"Pray that Cuba and the whole world might be won to Christ," he adds.

______________

Sunday, April 13 - Day 22

Ask God to strengthen Víctor González Sr. (see week 4 story) and other retirees in Cuba who continue to serve Christ and share the Gospel. Pray that their "golden years" will be fruitful ones. Pray that God will use these senior adults to introduce many Cubans to saving faith in Christ.