I’m leading a youth trip in North Dakota this week. We’re on a Sioux indian reservation in Devil’s Lake. Devil’s Lake is the name that was given to this area by indian agents in the 1800’s. It’s an incorrect translation of the indian name which means ‘People of the Enchanted Water’. They call themselves The Spirit Lake People, now.
I’ve been on a number of different trips with AIM. As an organization we attempt to go to hard places to minister. This is one of those places. I’m struck by the social problems. Unemployment rates of 60%, rampant alcoholism and drug use, teen pregnancy through the roof, lots of dads, but very few fathers, suicide.
The first night we were here a woman knocked on the door of the house we are staying at. She was drunk. She had been drinking for four days. She wanted a ride to Devil’s Lake which is about 15 miles away. She was just sober enough to carry a conversation. I listened to her tell me about her life. She has three children, all of whom have different fathers. She is an alcoholic, her father and mother are alcoholics, her grandfather is an alcoholic, her children either are or are becoming alcoholics. Her daughter is 16 years old and living with a man in his 30’s. She wanted me to pray for her.
I sat with her wondering how I could possibly minister to her. I had no frame of reference for her life, her problems, her struggles. I don’t know her pain. I prayed that God would give me something to say to her that would minister to her. I shared some things with her and prayed for her. I’m not sure if I ministered to her or not. In the end I think I was reasoning with demons. We got her to Devil’s Lake and she stumbled into her home.
We went to church on Sunday. A man stood up at the end of the service. He had been ill and recently spent time in a nursing home. He had a cane to help him walk and moved very slowly. He spoke to us about some of the social struggles that people on the reservation face and some of the things he has struggled with. Alcohol, multiple suicide attempts. I judged him to be in his mid sixties, perhaps he was 70. He looked as if he could be my father. He’s 49.
The Lord has impressed on me something He’s been teaching me over the last few years. I’ve asked Him to let me see the world through His eyes. He’s been showing me that most of what we see in the physical is only a manifestation of an underlying spiritual reality. Paul tells us to look not at the temporal but at the eternal in 2 Cor. 4:18. The people here are in spiritual bondage.
The question is, what to do about the bondage? I have with me 14 youth from Seattle Chinese Church and 12 from Alliance Holiness in Chicago ( a Korean church). They are 26 in all and most of them have never been on a mission trip. This is a tough place to be the first time out. We’ve been praying for God’s leadership and asking Him to speak to us in the midst of ministry. We want Him to give us the words to say. These kids on the trip can’t empathize with the pain of the kids they’re interacting with. They’re like me; no frame of reference.
Thankfully, Jesus does know the reality of the pain and the suffering that the people are subjected to here. He is acutely aware of the spiritual battle that is going on and He’s using these kids to begin the process of taking back dominion in this place. He wants it back and He wants to use us to begin getting it back.
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.
