At our morning “palestra” today, in a circular discussion format, I asked those 50-60 gathered what stood out to them about the passage, taught quite well by one of our colleagues, about the Christmas account recorded by one of Jesus’ followers, Mark.  Several people shared consecutively that what spoke to them most in the Christmas story of the coming of Jesus was, specifically, how He came.  One person spoke at length about the crudeness of the setting – a dirty, raw, manure-filled, unkempt and not-fit-for-human-habitation, “corral” for cows.  Several others reiterated how the humility and the poverty of the setting so impressed and encouraged them.  The God of the universe chose to arrive in a setting that these rural people consider “humble” (a word used repeatedly in their descriptions of the event). 

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A familiar part of the story also mentioned at our gathering was the single line stating that the local “hostel” was fully occupied, leaving no space for Jesus’ family.  An event which Jesus couldn’t humanly control and, yet, one which fit exactly into His future messages about “inviting Him in” to their “full” and “occupied” lives.

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I was struck by the power that the story of Jesus’ birth had on the people with whom I serve every day.  A singular event of Jesus’ remarkable life which is full of events that are so counterintuitive as to how an author (or four) might depict how any king, let alone the King of Kings, might appear to His people and reveal His character, authority, and sovereignty.

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The whole Christmas story is a wild mixture of some incredibly beautiful people who place courageous and admirable trust in their God intertwined with real world injustice, brutality and ugly evil. 

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The King of kings came to a remote “outback” desert region in the middle east to a small tribe of people living under the heavy-handed, barbaric, brutal and godless rule of a merciless, unforgiving and ultra-controlling Roman empire.  

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A teenage girl, Mary, surrendered her life and well-being to trust God’s word and purposes, accepting the word of an angel and stepping into radical unknown, having no clue where her trust would lead her.  She did know that she was an unmarried virgin and that, for her outside-of-marriage pregnancy confession alone, she might be outcast and/or stoned, in accordance with the laws of this tiny, ancient, “God-fearing” tribe, that were reputedly dictated to Moses by God Himself.  She knew she had to tell Joseph, her fiancé.  How did Mary trust Joseph to accept such an outlandish claim as a “spiritual” conception?  How did Joseph trust Mary’s telling of the origin of the pregnancy, and how did Joseph and anyone else who knew Mary trust that such a story from a teen was aligned with God’s purposes when nothing like it had ever happened?

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Mary and Joseph chose to trust each other and trust God’s word and His unknown/unseen purposes, yet they were still forced to navigate this broken and crazy world with incredible wisdom and insight.  Near the end of the pregnancy, Joseph and Mary were forced to walk for several days away from their home and family, in obedience to a recently enacted (human) Roman census law, knowing that the birth could take place “on the road”.  That is, of course, what happened and Jesus was born in an isolated, “nothing” village, Bethlehem, instead of in their home village, surrounded by support.  When they arrived at their destination, there was nowhere to stay, so they accepted lodging in a barn with only a feeding trough for a baby bed, something so unique, even in those days, that some shepherds were directed to find a baby that was cared for in this specific manner, and this would identify the One they were called to worship.

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Mary was told at Jesus’ dedication that the baby she thought would be a savior and King of her people, would be rejected and opposed by many of her people and a source of joy to others, and that He would expose the truth of men’s hearts and that Mary’s own heart would be pierced. Yet she stayed the course.  To protect the baby, who Joseph and Mary trusted was truly sent by God, they fled, under cover of darkness, and sought refuge in a land that once enslaved the same tribe into which they were born, to avoid the merciless slaughter of all locally born infants by a jealous, godless, self-absorbed, Hitler-type mass murderer.  Though trusting God, Joseph hid his young family from authorities and raised Jesus in outback Nazareth, fearing what the Roman rulers might do if Jesus’ identity became known . 

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Others were given the choice of who to trust.  A “voice in the wilderness,” was called to announce to the people of the region the soon arrival of the King of kings.  He was born to an elderly, barren couple who trusted that their untimely and risky pregnancy was of God.  John embraced his parents’ God and abandoned his life to trusting Him, becoming a zealous, name-calling, rebellious, wild cultural outlier who refused “civilized” shelter, clothing and food with complete abandonment to the opinions of his people and his culture.  He was imprisoned and beheaded for trusting his life to God while speaking what was true with utter disregard for his personal well-being and for his own cultural authority.

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Angels appeared to the culture’s lowest socioeconomic class of people to announce the birth of their Savior and Deliverer and to invite these forgotten, outcast, uneducated, illiterate sheep-herders to trust them, leave their sheep, and go into town and be the first to witness the appearance of the King of kings.  Their lives were transformed into grateful God/Jesus worshippers and they became this world’s first Kingdom evangelists, telling everyone simply what they had witnessed and that the God who orchestrated it all was worthy of worship and adoration.  

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Foreign, non-Jewish “astrologers” recognized a unique astronomical event in the night skies and traveled a great distance to meet the “deity” behind it all, and then they gave their trust and worship to Him, to such an extent that their story was chronicled in the story of stories and God communicated directly to them in their dreams.

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The events surrounding Jesus’ birth and His brief life were recorded in simple, direct and straightforward accounts, by multiple eyewitnesses who personally lived with Jesus and who recorded their stories after they witnessed His death and His resurrection. The authors of these accounts also seemed totally unconcerned about how their recollections made people feel, as they simply recorded what they knew to be true.  Writing truthfully would have been a high priority for these authors, as they knew that their accounts would be heard and read by many people who were also witnesses and/or participants in their accounts.  These authors also gained nothing personally by recording their accounts but, rather, they lived with constant opposition, abuse and rejection, even dying violent deaths, because of what they wrote, while seeking to convince others that what they wrote was true – that the Jesus they knew and wrote about was truly the One and only God, and worthy of our trust and worship. 

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It seems a worthwhile meditation for any truth-seeker to ask, “Why?”  Why would the God of all arrive, live and die as He did in Jesus?  What does the “how” of Jesus’ arrival, life and death reveal about God’s character, His motives and His perspectives?  How might all of this impact you and me today, 2000+ years later?

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As those this morning at our palestra so aptly pointed out, the King of kings, the Alpha and Omega, the Way, Truth and Life, the Hope of mankind and the Creator of those to whom He came… arrived… humbly… to…

perhaps…

experience all of the worst possible of human experience (abandonment, rejection, neglect, homelessness, starvation, betrayal, assault, hatred, etc) and to invite those who experienced the same, to trust Him, to abide with Him, and to walk/live in communion with Him in this life and into the unending and infinite ages that follow…

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As my earthly life speeds to its completion, nothing has more meaning and significance to me these days than Jesus’ consistent message that “I am with you always,”

“Emmanuel, God with us”…

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Our King, our Master, our Rescuer, our Model, our Life…  Because Jesus repeatedly told His followers to do what He did, to “go” to the same people He prioritized, we live and labor in “nowhere” Cavango, to see our living King known among those in a rural, forgotten, neglected part of the world where suffering is great among those captive to human lies and traditions and with little food, shelter, clothing and basic health care. 

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Pictured is Bernardo, who I saw in follow-up today, with his devoted mother and father, who arrived to Cavango three weeks ago rail-thin and barely able to walk and breathe after hoping for six months at home that his cough, difficulty breathing and loss of weight would resolve.  They had no idea that his illness was identifiable and treatable.  While receiving standard treatment and the food supplements mentioned below, Bernardo’s TB symptoms have already resolved and he has gained 13kg!   Samuel (also pictured) is a 52yo man who arrived after enduring two weeks of fever, chest pain and difficulty breathing.  We have drained milky, thick pus from his chest twice over the past week and Samuel is smiling, breathing normally, pain-free and wandering the hospital grounds.  Bernardo and Samuel are just two current examples of what we have the privilege of witnessing multiple times every day in Cavango.

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This work is beyond beautiful because so many of you, from every corner of the world, participate in every single task we undertake with each and every person we serve.  As 2025 draws to a close, I wanted to share some ways in which you can continue to tangibly participate in serving these beautiful, rural people, who live such challenging lives and are so clearly and historically dear to our Father King.

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We have two doctors joining our work in Cavango in 2026, one from Brazil (Patrícia) and one from Angola (Adeleide).  We would like to pay them a small stipend to cover their expenses and we would like to renovate a simple house (solar, water, floor, doors, screens, etc) in which they might be able to live (somewhat comfortably).

Our likely last inpatient ward will be completed in 2026 and financing is still needed to finish the project.

As you know, we pay for urgent life-saving surgeries at CEML, our partner surgical hospital in Lubango, because the costs are simply beyond affordable for these cashless rural people who live off of their simple fields.  Our average annual cost for these surgeries is about $60,000 (average of about $700 per CEML hospital stay).  We have received hugely sacrificial contributions by several beautiful people over the past several years to cover these costs, but our account is dwindling as we begin 2026.

A dear Angolan friend and Jesus-lover, Tomás Messele, who has embraced our vision to serve these rural people in any way possible, and who already serves the Cavango ministry in so many ways, is looking to launch a “trifecta” missionary ministry in the rural villages around Cavango that will involve instruction in “best-practices” agriculture, establishing reliable and available sources of potable water in these communities, and combining these with discipleship training and modeling.  He is an electrician and pastor in a city several hours away and we would like to see him raise enough support to be free to serve in this “trifecta” missionary work full-time.

Annual inflation in Angola averages nearly 20% and costs for medications and everything else is stifling, especially for those living remotely.  Because of weather-related crop destruction this year, hunger in our region will remain devastatingly prevalent until the current crop is harvested in June or July (weather-permitting).  Through AGA and several other organizations and individuals, we are receiving and distributing boxes of highly nutritious food products to those especially in need, and more distribution of the same will literally save many (especially young) lives.

We hope to begin a school for this region where almost no children have the opportunity to acquire a basic education (reading, writing, math, and Portuguese – Angola’s national language).  A simple school building will need financed and constructed and teacher-mentors will be greatly beneficial.  We have sponsored several young people over the past four years to complete their training in education (in the city) and to return to Cavango and teach at the school.  They will greatly benefit from guidance from someone with education and/or mentoring experience and a decent facility will, of course, benefit both students and teachers.

The denomination which owns the mission property is appointing a new pastor to oversee the church work here.  We would like to renovate the pastor’s house in a way that it has potable water and solar electricity and is relatively secure from human, mosquito and rodent invasion.

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The needs here are great and each and every need in each and every person provides Jesus-lovers opportunities to demonstrate our Father’s care for those hurting, as did Jesus.  Thank you for partnering with us to be Jesus’ hands and voice in touching and caring for some of this world’s “least”…

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Contributions can be sent, in our name, and with any desired purpose noted, to the following address, via the “Contributions” link above, or via http://hopeforangola.org.

Advancing the Gospel in Angola
Attn: Bonnie Miller
Po Box 561
Hudsonville, MI 49426
United States

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