The sights, sounds, smells, images of the week confuse and anger me, angry that our governments know this exist, angry that it is allowed to exist, angry that little is done. I am confused and left speechless by the seemingly lack of importance placed on helping these needy people. I am confused that the nations of the west ignore the plight of the poor; I am confused why until now I have ignored the cries of the desperate. I am a different person today than I was last week. My eyes are open, my God has shown me his children, God loves these people so much is moving hearts around the world to help.
Once our eyes are opened, once we have shown by God his will for us, we can never be the same. We are called to serve one another; we are to love others as ourselves. The time has come to spend a little money on the needy of the world. We can change this slum ridden, poverty infected world by being obedient to the word of God and the will of God. Now that we have seen, a day will come when we stand before God and he will ask what we did for the least of his brothers, we are accountable. In that moment every chance we had to serve God by serving others will be brought forth. May we all be able to say, “When you were naked I clothed you, when you were thirsty I gave you drink, when you hungry I fed you.” In that moment may we hear God say “Well done my good and faithful servant, well done.”
The week in Kenya is over; the work to help our brothers and sisters in Christ living in poverty is just beginning. This week will always be remembered as a turning point in my life, turning away from self and turning towards others. I pray that though you were not here, that someday you will come to witness first hand how plentiful the work is. I pray you will not wait to help support the efforts in Nairobi another day. I pray through your financial support you will become a fellow worker in the harvest. May God lay on your hearts the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ as he has laid it on me. We have been blessed, to be a blessing to others, and to point them to Christ. God Bless you from Kenya. Bwana asa feeway (God is great)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Africa Thursday
We all have our own stories, our hopes, dreams, and aspirations; the common thread in all of these is our desire for an improved way of life. We are blessed and fortunate enough to live in the greatest country in the world, with hard work, perseverance, and a little time we can realize most if not all of our wants and dreams. Sadly the world does not work like that for everyone.
Work is hard to find, 60% of Kenyans are unemployed, every day they attempt to get casual labor jobs, some days they do, some they don’t. If they are fortunate enough to find work, they can maybe earn 100- 200 Kenyan Schilling, which is$1.50-$3.00 American. Most of the people in the world who live on less than $1.00 a day live in Africa. In Africa, that dollar does not go far enough. Rampant corruption runs the government; food designated to the poor is often redirected and ends up padding the wallets of officials rather than feeding the stomachs of the nation. Give us this day our daily bread, a very real and urgent daily prayer, sounds so different in Africa than it does back home.
The church in Africa is alive and well. The church is working with least of my brothers, whatever they do for the least, they do for God. They do more work with fewer resources than is imaginable. They are pressing onward, time is short, people are dying and the workers are few. They keep working.
Joy, hope, and love are found here. We have been first hand witnesses to the living gospel, through our host, at the sites we visited we saw Christ at work in and through them. In these moments that we spent with them the living God, the same God we worship has made the needs of his children known, we have been witnesses to the will of God. The only question left is what we’ll we do now that we know?
Work is hard to find, 60% of Kenyans are unemployed, every day they attempt to get casual labor jobs, some days they do, some they don’t. If they are fortunate enough to find work, they can maybe earn 100- 200 Kenyan Schilling, which is$1.50-$3.00 American. Most of the people in the world who live on less than $1.00 a day live in Africa. In Africa, that dollar does not go far enough. Rampant corruption runs the government; food designated to the poor is often redirected and ends up padding the wallets of officials rather than feeding the stomachs of the nation. Give us this day our daily bread, a very real and urgent daily prayer, sounds so different in Africa than it does back home.
The church in Africa is alive and well. The church is working with least of my brothers, whatever they do for the least, they do for God. They do more work with fewer resources than is imaginable. They are pressing onward, time is short, people are dying and the workers are few. They keep working.
Joy, hope, and love are found here. We have been first hand witnesses to the living gospel, through our host, at the sites we visited we saw Christ at work in and through them. In these moments that we spent with them the living God, the same God we worship has made the needs of his children known, we have been witnesses to the will of God. The only question left is what we’ll we do now that we know?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Africa Wednsday
Jambo Kenya,
I am not even sure I know what that means, rather I don't know what that means, every time I say it people smile, so I keep saying it.
I pray some day you will know what I know, I pray you will see what I saw, I pray you will be here, the harvets is plentifull my friends, plentifull. Just got back from twelve hours in the savanah, dirty, dusty, smelly, and blessed, we are almost natives.
Today God blew us away again. We went to an area of the slum called the "abyss", I thought we had seen everything, seems we only see what God wants us to see, today he showed us evil. The abyss, bottomless pit, is where the glue boys hangout, they are gone for ever their brains no longer function they sniff glue all the time, the glue makes them forget to eat, they die young. Satan was there, we felt the presence, it weighs heavy on you. The light of Jesus was with us, we were kept safe, you will not believe the photos are real.
Six thousand miles from home, in a corragated steel shed in the middle of the African savanah, at a school called Joska, with the winds swirling, the dust blinding I was called upon to preach to 600 Kenyans. God is good all the time, we love and worship Jesus Christ our Lord and savior together, no matter the time zone or language. Praise Him.
Fun stuff
We saw a #4 jersey, go pack go.
I am really thankful for cipro...
Traffic laws are non existant, pedestrians beware.
Showers, seem to be optional.
Not everything is foreign, we are served mandazi's for breakfast, small fried, sugarless donuts, today we were served something different, Steve expecting some exotic description asked what it was, answer cake.
God bless more later.
I am not even sure I know what that means, rather I don't know what that means, every time I say it people smile, so I keep saying it.
I pray some day you will know what I know, I pray you will see what I saw, I pray you will be here, the harvets is plentifull my friends, plentifull. Just got back from twelve hours in the savanah, dirty, dusty, smelly, and blessed, we are almost natives.
Today God blew us away again. We went to an area of the slum called the "abyss", I thought we had seen everything, seems we only see what God wants us to see, today he showed us evil. The abyss, bottomless pit, is where the glue boys hangout, they are gone for ever their brains no longer function they sniff glue all the time, the glue makes them forget to eat, they die young. Satan was there, we felt the presence, it weighs heavy on you. The light of Jesus was with us, we were kept safe, you will not believe the photos are real.
Six thousand miles from home, in a corragated steel shed in the middle of the African savanah, at a school called Joska, with the winds swirling, the dust blinding I was called upon to preach to 600 Kenyans. God is good all the time, we love and worship Jesus Christ our Lord and savior together, no matter the time zone or language. Praise Him.
Fun stuff
We saw a #4 jersey, go pack go.
I am really thankful for cipro...
Traffic laws are non existant, pedestrians beware.
Showers, seem to be optional.
Not everything is foreign, we are served mandazi's for breakfast, small fried, sugarless donuts, today we were served something different, Steve expecting some exotic description asked what it was, answer cake.
God bless more later.
Africa Tuesday
Hey praise God, for he is good all the time. The sights, sounds, and the reality of the slums have hit hard. Living conditions we cannot begin to fathom, nothing in my background has prepared me for the last two days. Hunger and despair stalk the people of Marthe Valley, witch doctors, gangs, thugs all prey on the people of Marthe. When you have nothing, how can anything be taken from you? Yet, it happens everyday. Just when I though I’d seen everything, when I knew I was jaded, unable to be phased further, God continued to show us the misery and suffering of the valley. Amidst these extreme conditions there is hope, and God is here. I learned to understand the bible deeper, I hear God clearer in familiar verses, and I am beginning to grasp Jesus’ teaching a little deeper.
Matthew 5:11 Give us this day our daily bread, I am slowly comprehended the power in these words, it’s not a simple string of words that have been memorized since childhood. Give us our daily bread is a powerful plea, the only source of food today needs to come from God’s provision, these words aren’t hastily repeated in Marthe Valley, like they tend to be in the US. These words connect the body of believers to the creator of the universe; this plea for daily bread is urgent and powerful. This is the hope they have.
I want to be your hands, I want to be your feet, I want to go where you send me, go where you send me. So the song goes, and that’s good. Matt 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” We can be workers and help with the holy harvest in so many ways, our prayers are felt and needed, our financial resources can buy so much more than a café mocha loca grande, or a value meal. We can come and do kingdom work, we can let He who breathed all into existence use us for his purposes, through the blessings Christ has given us we can bring hope.
Matt 25:40 The King will reply. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Did, whatever you did, you did for me. I have met the least of Christ’s brothers. We are to do for them as Christ himself would. Our eyes have been opened to a need greater and far beyond my imagination, this new found awareness requires action and prayer. One day God will say “I showed you need, you met that need, well done good and faithful servant’ or he will say, “I tell you the truth whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.”
The first and greatest commandment, Love the Lord you God with all your heart mind soul and strength, the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself. God teach me to love others as you do, teach me to see them as you do. Bless the people of Marthe Valley today
Matthew 5:11 Give us this day our daily bread, I am slowly comprehended the power in these words, it’s not a simple string of words that have been memorized since childhood. Give us our daily bread is a powerful plea, the only source of food today needs to come from God’s provision, these words aren’t hastily repeated in Marthe Valley, like they tend to be in the US. These words connect the body of believers to the creator of the universe; this plea for daily bread is urgent and powerful. This is the hope they have.
I want to be your hands, I want to be your feet, I want to go where you send me, go where you send me. So the song goes, and that’s good. Matt 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” We can be workers and help with the holy harvest in so many ways, our prayers are felt and needed, our financial resources can buy so much more than a café mocha loca grande, or a value meal. We can come and do kingdom work, we can let He who breathed all into existence use us for his purposes, through the blessings Christ has given us we can bring hope.
Matt 25:40 The King will reply. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Did, whatever you did, you did for me. I have met the least of Christ’s brothers. We are to do for them as Christ himself would. Our eyes have been opened to a need greater and far beyond my imagination, this new found awareness requires action and prayer. One day God will say “I showed you need, you met that need, well done good and faithful servant’ or he will say, “I tell you the truth whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.”
The first and greatest commandment, Love the Lord you God with all your heart mind soul and strength, the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself. God teach me to love others as you do, teach me to see them as you do. Bless the people of Marthe Valley today
Monday, February 16, 2009
Africa-Monday
We left Milwaukee forty four hours ago, all went well. I was sure I’d be writing about the trip over, stories of cramped planes, screaming babies, and bad food. We arrived at our hotel exactly 24 hours and one minute after leaving Milwaukee. It was night time here, Nairobi is nine hours ahead of Waukesha, I am actually writing this tomorrow as you read it today. My thoughts of the discomfort we went thru have been replaced by the reality of life in the slums of Marthe Valley (Mar-the, the rhymes with way). Our trip over cannot even be described as an inconvenience in comparison.
Marthe Valley is home to 800,000 people all living in conditions that would be described as criminal in the United States. The valley is divided into ten villages, the valley runs approximately ten kilometers in length, or 6.2 miles. In that small stretch of land there is misery, disease, despair, alcoholism, drug abuse, hunger, fear, death, prostitution, this is where the forgotten people live, this is where people survive, live isn’t the right word.
In Nairobi unemployment runs at 60%, adult HIV rates are over 40%, the social services, the safety nets we have in the U.S., don’t exist in Kenya, people don’t fall through the cracks, the plunge into the abyss. This is their reality, this is the story we never knew.
Thoughts from the slum tour today:
Drug use is rampant, the drug of choice is glue, the epoxy that holds our shoes together, we saw and talked at a thirteen year old boy who will never remember we were there, his mind is gone, for him it seems so is hope. We went into the home of Frieda; rather we went into the shack of Frieda. Frieda is not sure of her age; it’s fifty something, a 12 x 10 shack, made out of corrugated steel is her home. Frieda used to abuse alcohol; she drank so she could do her job, as a prostitute. Today she is a sister in Christ, 22 people live with her in her tiny shack, no plumbing, water, floor, nothing. For the first time today I have seen nothing, until now I always thought there was something I now have seen nothing, yet in that nothing I saw God. Frieda prays to keep her faith strong, that her family would grow in the hope that is Christ and for God to provide for her and hers for one more day. I thought I relied on God and trusted in him; today I met people who just do it, no thinking, just prayers. Raw sewage everywhere, we walked around the corner and saw a young child squatting in front of their house like a dog would, I’d like to say that was odd, it’s the norm. Home distilleries, making alcohol in rivers of filth, drunken men and women, in the midst of all of this there is hope, the church is alive in Marthe Valley.
Marthe Valley is home to 800,000 people all living in conditions that would be described as criminal in the United States. The valley is divided into ten villages, the valley runs approximately ten kilometers in length, or 6.2 miles. In that small stretch of land there is misery, disease, despair, alcoholism, drug abuse, hunger, fear, death, prostitution, this is where the forgotten people live, this is where people survive, live isn’t the right word.
In Nairobi unemployment runs at 60%, adult HIV rates are over 40%, the social services, the safety nets we have in the U.S., don’t exist in Kenya, people don’t fall through the cracks, the plunge into the abyss. This is their reality, this is the story we never knew.
Thoughts from the slum tour today:
Drug use is rampant, the drug of choice is glue, the epoxy that holds our shoes together, we saw and talked at a thirteen year old boy who will never remember we were there, his mind is gone, for him it seems so is hope. We went into the home of Frieda; rather we went into the shack of Frieda. Frieda is not sure of her age; it’s fifty something, a 12 x 10 shack, made out of corrugated steel is her home. Frieda used to abuse alcohol; she drank so she could do her job, as a prostitute. Today she is a sister in Christ, 22 people live with her in her tiny shack, no plumbing, water, floor, nothing. For the first time today I have seen nothing, until now I always thought there was something I now have seen nothing, yet in that nothing I saw God. Frieda prays to keep her faith strong, that her family would grow in the hope that is Christ and for God to provide for her and hers for one more day. I thought I relied on God and trusted in him; today I met people who just do it, no thinking, just prayers. Raw sewage everywhere, we walked around the corner and saw a young child squatting in front of their house like a dog would, I’d like to say that was odd, it’s the norm. Home distilleries, making alcohol in rivers of filth, drunken men and women, in the midst of all of this there is hope, the church is alive in Marthe Valley.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Busy
Without a doubt, as I write this or perhaps as this is being read, the reader and the writer are both incredibly busy. This fact is no longer even questioned, we are busy. From the time we wake in the morning to the time we retire for the evening, our days are filled with a constant velocity and fury of busyness. In line at the local grocer, I heard this exchange, "Young man, hurry up I am very busy today", the clerk responded "Lady the world is busy."
Sir or madam, for the last time let me tell you now, the world is collectively busy. From this point forward, just as no one walks around and says "I'm breathing", forever more henceforth there is no need to disclose our busyness. We get it, enough said, we are busy. We are busy with things we can control and with things we can't. Declaring our busyness is justification of why we don't do the things we really should. Put another way, when we are too busy to do the things we ought to, maybe we're not busy at all in the sense we've come to expect.
I once heard, busy is short for buried under Satan's yoke. Seems we may not be as busy as we thought we were, instead it seems we're merely distracted. The distraction is deliberate, diabolical, and deadly. Maybe all this busyness is by design. I was going to read my bible today but... I was going to spend time with my kids today but... I was going to stop and see my parents today but... I was to busy. Satan is called the great deceiver, maybe some or most of our busyness is designed to distract us from God and the things God loves. Maybe when we're buried under the yoke of Satan we aren't busy we're simply not focused.
Matthew 11:30 "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus offers a different yoke, our busyness keeps us away from him. Maybe it's time to re-focus.
Sir or madam, for the last time let me tell you now, the world is collectively busy. From this point forward, just as no one walks around and says "I'm breathing", forever more henceforth there is no need to disclose our busyness. We get it, enough said, we are busy. We are busy with things we can control and with things we can't. Declaring our busyness is justification of why we don't do the things we really should. Put another way, when we are too busy to do the things we ought to, maybe we're not busy at all in the sense we've come to expect.
I once heard, busy is short for buried under Satan's yoke. Seems we may not be as busy as we thought we were, instead it seems we're merely distracted. The distraction is deliberate, diabolical, and deadly. Maybe all this busyness is by design. I was going to read my bible today but... I was going to spend time with my kids today but... I was going to stop and see my parents today but... I was to busy. Satan is called the great deceiver, maybe some or most of our busyness is designed to distract us from God and the things God loves. Maybe when we're buried under the yoke of Satan we aren't busy we're simply not focused.
Matthew 11:30 "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus offers a different yoke, our busyness keeps us away from him. Maybe it's time to re-focus.
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