USA (MNN) -- Rising fuel costs in the United States have been linked to the second postage increase in 17 months. Broken down, it looks like this: for every penny gas goes up, it costs the United States Postal Service an average of eight million dollars a year to keep the system running at its peak. Last year, the Postal Service handled a mail volume of 213 billion pieces.
Such increases have hit Bible Pathway Ministries hard, increasing their shipping costs three and a half times. Bible Pathway Ministries' Ken Sharp explains: "To send an 'M' bag, which is economy-surface mail, it was $1.05 a pound to send materials overseas. It may take a month or two to get there, but it was very economical to get a big amount to a church group or a village. That price has jumped to $3.95 a pound."
The USPS did away with the "M" bag, leaving only higher-priced options for sending materials. That's hindered their work, but Sharp says they're working out distribution problems creatively. "We just recently sent a lot of material overseas with a church going on a mission trip; they took it on the plane with them in suitcases. Another way we're doing it is trying to coordinate with a lot of other ministries that are sending big containers. And now we have 11 different languages of Bible Pathway devotions on the Internet."
By land, sea, or air, thirty tons of Bibles and Bible Pathways were sent overseas last year in response to requests for spiritual help. Those requests are still growing, coming in from hungry hearts who have nowhere else to turn.
The solutions for life's problems cannot be found in scientific discoveries, in medicine, technology, or better government, but through God the Creator and through the Scriptures. It's the heartbeat of Bible Pathway. Many are responding to the hope they find in Christ. Many others are making sure these new believers have access to the tools they need to help them grow. Click here if you can help.
