To Live is Christ

I recently attended the memorial service for a Wycliffe missionary who went to heaven after a battle with cancer. She and her husband share the same sending church with Joyce and me here in Littleton, Colorado. Two of their daughters were active in the young adult church group which we led and taught for nine years.

Brad and Toni gave 30 years of their lives to translating significant portions of the Bible into the language of the Koluwawa people in Papua New Guinea.

At the service, Brad read Philippians 1:21, first in English and then in Koluwawa. As he read it in their language, he was moved to tears. These words from the Word in the language of this people represent much of his and Toni’s life work and ministry.

This passage states, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Brad and Toni lived their lives for Christ. And for Toni to transition to heaven through death has become her great gain indeed.

Friends as we all begin this new year, we would do well to remember that because of the great hope we possess in Christ, our highest priority, greatest effort, and deepest honor in 2023 is to live for Christ.

Only a few are called to translate the Bible in and for cultures around the world, but we are all called to depict and describe Jesus to people in our worlds. Wherever we are, there we are on mission.

Thank you for the portion of your calling that is faithfully employed through your financial gifts to Cadence and our staff. God has always used believing military people to be a witness for Him in cultures around the world wherever the military sends them.

May God bless you as you live for Him in your location.

David Schroeder
President