Author Archives: Rob Bernard

About Rob Bernard

Rob Bernard's Testimony Almost twenty-five years ago, a young nurse shared a dream she had with her husband. The idea was to combine her nursing skills, and his career in education in a foreign land. They would serve the Lord, seek adventure, earn their living, and raise their growing family while traveling and learning about other peoples and other places. Fast forward to 1999. Bev and Rob Bernard now have five children and live in Sheridan, Wyoming – other than a three week backpacking trip trip to Europe, sans kids, they've not traveled much beyond US borders. As Rob is finishing his doctorate at the University of Wyoming, they begin to pray a prayer to God that will to challenge them and carry them to the ends of the earth. “Lord,” they pray, “open doors that no man can shut, and close doors that no man (not even us) can open.” This is a prayer modeled on Holy scripture (Rev. 3:7 & 8). They will soon find this prayer is a prayer of submission, an unconditional offer to serve, and a call to adventure unlike any other. Fast forward to Spring 2006. Rob and Bev realize that six years in the Arab Peninsula is coming to an end. Bev has been the Director of Nursing at a mission hospital for half a decade, Rob is a “tentmaker” and the top “techie” for two Muslim colleges. With sons Sam and Harry, and sometimes daughter Beka, they have traveled to more than 20 countries, SCUBA-ed in two oceans, climbed the pyramids, seen the moors of Scotland, studied Arabic, traversed the Bosphorus of Turkey, rode tuktuks in Bangkok, traded with Masai warriors in Kenya, temporarily pastored a church, and touched the lives of countless Muslims. But their biggest adventure still awaits them; now they are reaching toward God's throne and praying the “open doors and closed doors” prayer with a specific location in mind - - India. Sam, Harry, Bev and Rob have traveled to India and been captured by plague of poverty and the passion of the believers. They have seen the horrors of disease and malnutrition and the shining hope in the eyes of the rescued. They have discovered a land rich in history and poor in spirit. And their hearts have been changed. Once more, fast forward - to January 12, 2009. I (Rob) am sitting in an airport. Last night with a new good friend, I constructed a rigorous schedule for February and March 2009, where I will be traveling, teaching, preaching, encouraging, maybe baptizing (one can hope), and serving the reached and unreached of India. For thirty months Bev and I prayed for an open door to India. In typical “Creator of the universe” fashion, God answered. It is a story worth the telling: Labor Day weekend 2008 marked our 30thWedding Anniversary and we attended a retreat near Devils Tower National Monument. While there we met an Indian fellow, Sam Abraham, who was at the retreat to promote Reaching Indians Ministries International (RIMI). Over lunch Bev and visited with him and found that although India has almost 1.2 billion people, he knew at least six of the same people we knew! Here we were in “Nowhere Wyoming”, but India had come to us! This was no coincidence. This was a door being opened. Have you heard the term “Divine appointments”? Our encounter with Sam Abraham and RIMI was one! After we got home from the retreat, I fired up the Internet to see about his organization and learned about RIMI (www.RIMI.org). During several years of praying, and based on our expanding knowledge of India and six years on the mission field, Bev and I had developed a mental list to answer the question: “what should an effective mission in India look like?” We found “our” list on the RIMI website – and so much more. Soon I went to Chicago to meet Saji Lukos, RIMI's founder and president, and we discovered much in common; we are in fact, brothers with different skin colors. I returned home and talked and prayed with Bev and some other people who are important to us. A short time later, we joined RIMI and I became the Mission's representative to much of the western US. We believe none of us is called to become something we are not; God wants to use who we are, what we know, our experiences and our hearts, just as they are. Clearly I am not the guy to start a new organization – I'm better at bringing skills to an existing organization. So working with RIMI is a “tailor made” opportunity (OK, “Creator made”). Father God has taught us that He wants our 'best fruits'. ... not our tired old selves when we are ready to retire. So there is an urgency to be about Father's business. I'm 58, in pretty good health, but I've got what my physician calls an 'ancient' mechanical valve in my heart, and my Hepatitis C will soon celebrate its 27thanniversary in my blood stream. So India it is. Wow, God sure works in amazing ways. I'm excited and challenged.