It was 60 years ago. It was in the remote mountains of western China. It was about the Lisu people.

This is the setting of the book: Stones of Fire. Following the story of one young Lisu girl and her husband through marriage and parenthood, it brings out again and again the moral through the following statement: Principle shot through with passion, passion held by principle. Picture it like a wall of principle with an arrow thrust through it but held in place.

Isabel Kuhn and her husband, and a number of other missionaries went to Lisu land as missionaries from as far back as the teens of the twentieth century. They worked hard to spread the gospel in the mountains and valleys of Lisu land. The Lisu people were animists, unbelievers in God. But these missionaries brought the message of salvation to these unbelievers. Their hard work resulted in numerous baptisms through the years.

Today this country is closed to foreign missionaries. But because of the hard work of the Kuhns and other missionaries, 80% of the Lisu people in this country today are Christians. Because of the sacrificing labor of missionaries who took advantage of the window of opportunity to reach that people group…

There was a day when the Lisu tribe was unreached, but not today. There are many people groups today that remain unreached just as the Lisu were before the missionaries came to their mountains. A few are restricted and hard to access. However there are many people groups today for whom the window of opportunity is open, just as it was open for the Lisu people 60 years ago.

We have begun a new year. Consider for a moment the possibility that God may be calling you to go and work in an unreached people group… This year may be the window of opportunity for that people group. If He calls, will you go?