baby girls 1 When people die we search through their lives to sift out the honorable, the memorable, the valuable. We hold those up and examine them. We want to remember the good things. Last night our good friend, Mike Monson, died. He left this life for the room prepared especially for him. He was at peace with dying although he would have loved to be healed so he could tell everyone about God’s miracle.

It took Mike a long time to enter the Kingdom of God. When Roger and I first met him he didn’t know much about God or how to serve him. He entertained a wide variety of belief systems including the possibility that aliens walked amongst us. But, he found good friends among the believers he met and kept spending time with them until he knew he wanted to be part of the family. Still, he didn’t feel he had enough faith. He wanted to be honest– he still had doubts about the things he read in the Bible. Finally he began to understand he only needed to give God a chance– he didn’t need to work up a bunch of faith in his own strength, he only needed to place his trust in God.  That, he decided he could do. He finally said yes to God.

Mike got himself a membership in the Kingdom. Then the fun began.  He realized he could be part of the biggest adventure of all– God’s plan to rescue all of creation. He learned God has good works for every believer to perform and began to search for his assignment. He traveled to India and fell in love with the children there. He became aware of the evil practice of female infanticide, the killing of baby girls, all throughout India. He was troubled in his heart that such a thing is done on a regular basis.

Mike began to pray God would show him a ministry working to eradicate the killing of baby girls. He prayed for two full years before coming across Russal and Kumari Raj’s work to rescue baby girls near the city of Chennai. Once he found the home, just a couple taking rescued baby girls into their home to raise as their own daughters, Mike began making plans to visit them. In 2010 Mike and Sharon traveled to Chennai to meet the children in the Girl Baby Home. Both he and Sharon bonded with those children during their visit and the girls began to call them Grandma and Grandpa.

Mike supported Russal and Kumari’s work. He and Sharon helped to feed and clothe the girls, and send them to good schools. He’d found the assignment God had designed specifically for him and he took it on with joy. The Bible promises that if we seek God honestly, He will allow us to find Him. And if we want to serve in His Kingdom, he’ll show us what to do. Mike grew from a man who wanted to see what was “in it for him,” to one who wanted to give all he could to make a difference. He learned how to be a valuable member of the Kingdom, a humble servant.

Mike was more than a good man, he was a man on a mission. He caught the vision of the Kingdom and doing his part to alleviate pain. He acted on the compassion God had placed in his heart.

Yes, Mike was just a guy who learned about God and became a Christian. But that’s the wonder of it all. He learned the secret. He turned 180 degrees from striving to build his own kingdom of material wealth and success and found for the first time his life had purpose. He wasn’t just a good man, he was God’s man.