Rand and Debbie Burgett Missionaries with New Tribes Mission Give me simplicity or give me death!
In our heart of hearts, we all long for simplicity. No one goes, “Oh, I wish my life were more complicated.” We look at lifestyles such as the Amish and even though we don’t choose it for ourselves, we know, deep down, there is something right about it. We are drawn to the wholesome, uncluttered, freedom we sense it brings. Our hearts yearn for the garden we were meant for all along.
Parenthood seems to bring it out even more. We want something better for our children than what our fast-paced, throw-away, media-centered culture offers. So we try, as much as we can, to get “back to the basics.”
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Burgett Gazette New Years 2012
“Honey? I know you said that one of the kids probably left them there. But since they’ve all gone to college now and I’m not in the habit of wearing men’s shoes and socks …”
That’s one of the problems with having an “empty nest.” There’s no one left to blame! We’re about to find out who really leaves the lights and air-conditioning on, doesn’t replace the toilet paper and gets peanut butter in the jelly. Rand has already made one new discovery. For years, he’s gotten into the car, turned the key and then jumped two feet as the radio started blaring music at him. He just assumed it was one of the kids!
Please Save My Daughter!
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Caked with a mixture of sweat and grime and nearing exhaustion, Wasi stumbled into the neighboring Hewa village, dragging his 16-year-old daughter, Tino, behind him. They collapsed in a heap as villagers and missionaries came running.
I Didn’t Sign Up For This!
Arrows came flying with chilling accuracy. Sabien was a man of his word. It was either “his way or the highway” – both at home and in the village. And he was always more than willing to “help” someone make the “right” choice.
He fit another arrow in his bow …
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The Baby Ate My Eraser!
Fall. Even if you don’t live where the leaves change and the air gets crisp and you have the sudden, overwhelming urge to make applesauce, you still notice it by the relative calm that settles over your neighborhood as moms wave good-bye to big yellow school buses.
Not so in the Uriay tribe of Papua New Guinea.
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The Stretcher-Bearers
The evening rain beat steadily against the little Banwaon hut. Inside, what should have been a happy occasion was not. Mahi had delivered her baby hours ago and yet, still no placenta.
The weak, incoherent young mother burned with fever. The tribal ladies looked at each other helplessly. They had done everything they knew to do …
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I Couldn’t Even Look At My Baby
When my son Tyler was born (our fourth child) I had wanted another girl – desperately. For some people, it doesn’t make any difference. For me, it did.
My friend Kim (my daughter-in-law’s mom) who helped with Tyler’s birth, said I wouldn’t even look at him. She kept trying to hand him to me, but I wouldn’t take him.
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Burgett Gazette Summer 2010
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Oh, no! I didn’t mean to splash all over you! So sorry! I just wanted to drop in and give you a little family and ministry update. I didn’t realize you’d be by the pool. Hope your book dries out okay. But at least now I can’t say I haven’t been swimming this summer!
Would I Never Learn?
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I stumbled into the living room that morning, groggy and guilty. We had stayed up way too late again – and the messy room proved it. We had all just gotten up last night, left our empty tea cups and dessert plates, and went to bed. Would we never learn? Would we never become the disciplined, well-ordered family I longed for us to be?
I Want to Be Free!
Freedom. The desire is so God-given, it literally screams from within our souls to be satisfied. And to taste its peace, most will gladly sacrifice the dearest thing they have to find it. Even life itself.
Hours before dawn, the tortured Baniua chief stood at the river’s edge, trembling. The battle for his soul raged on in his heart. He had to make it stop.
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