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