World Changers March 7, 2010

Mar 07, 2010
Dr. Addison Soltau

Their looks complemented each other.  One, was bearded and wearing a broad smile.  The other, smiling only occasionally – a more reasoned, nuanced outlook on life.  They weren’t here in our church too long, only a little over three years and it was during this time that two little boys were added to this couple, Luke and Amanda McAuley and their two boys Caden and Reuben.   

Now the McAuleys live in Portage, Indiana, where Luke has found a job in his chosen field of occupational therapy.  How long they’ll stay is not clear.  The reason for this uncertainty can be found in the burden the Lord has given to them for people who live on the African continent.  Raised by missionary parents in Kenya, Africa, Luke is no stranger to this land and people.  In recent months, Luke and Amanda concluded that they needed to explore possibilities of future service in the nation of Malawi in occupational therapy, particularly in the area of mental health.  They have been thinking and praying seriously about that possibility for some time, believing that Luke could minister the Lord’s healing touch to some very needy people through his skills of occupational therapy.    

Both Amanda and Luke made a profession of faith in the Lord at an early age when they were still separated by continents.  Luke, at age five, remembers sitting on his toy box while his father led in prayer for Luke’s salvation.  At the same age, in southeastern Michigan, one night while alone in her bed, Amanda told Jesus that she was sorry for her sins and now believed in Him and what He had done for her.  These two were to meet later while enrolled at the same college in Chicago.

For the present, after their month’s stay in Malawi, Luke and Amanda are in the process of sorting through some of the things the Lord showed them while in that country.  They want to visit us when they can find a time to come to Florida, and share some of their thoughts and experiences of life in Malawi. 

In the mean time, it is exciting to think about how the Lord might use this little family some time in the not-so-distant future in a culture about which we know so little.  While they wait before the Lord, let us pray with them, asking our Lord to make clear His future pathway.  To pray this way for a family so involved in this church is both a challenge and a blessing - a challenge to pray for those we no longer see, a blessing to see what God is going to do in the future.  Luke and Amanda could help to change the African world.    

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