Sunday, January 06, 2008
Laying Hands on Rev. Dan, everybody's Favorite Missionary
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Laying Hands on Rev. Dan: Everybody’s Favorite Missionary
There he goes again: Rev. Dan Hubbell’s itinerary is crowded, with no relief in sight, between January 14 and March 10, and little to anticipate beyond Third World deprivation, militant Muslims, Hindu hotspots and Oriental inscrutability.
In other words, this jaunt of three-nations-in-two-months resembles nothing so much as a repeat of the now-legendary 71-year-old’s previous globe-trotting missionary journeys, where Rev. Dan always seems to find the Keys to the Kingdom, even when—-for security reasons---he often isn’t told exactly where he is or who is hanging onto his every word about the promise of The Word!
His first scheduled stop is the Philippine Mindanao Islands, where some recent Christian missionaries have been killed, and where church property has been destroyed: “But, the safest place to be is always where God wants you to be,” he emphasizes. There, Rev. Dan expects to co-labor with a growing army of young men he himself trained as Christian leaders three years ago, men with whom he already enjoys a Bible-based father-son spiritual relationship. This trip will mark his third missionary journey to the Philippines.
Rev. Dan’s second scheduled stop, beginning January 29, will inaugurate his first missionary journey to India, at which point most men in their 70s would insist on at least a short break for much-needed rest and relaxation. For Rev. Dan, it will only be a time for him to pause and catch his second wind: “At my age, I do get tired here in the U.S. just like everyone else, but not on an overseas missionary journey, where my strength can only be from God,” he explains. “As Jesus once said, ‘I have meat that you know not of’.”
His third scheduled stop, on Feb. 20, will be to begin his eighth missionary journey to mainland China, where he has become known as “Dan Bobo,” an affectionate Chinese designation for “favorite great uncle,” during his ongoing mission to the 100-million-plus “underground” Christians who are unwilling to join the eight million registered members of an officially sanctioned, and highly regimented, government Christian church. He returns on March 10, 2008, to his “hired house in Winnsboro, Texas, USA.”
