This ordinary sight is something our ministry in Mozambique has been missing for over three months.
Since our arrival, the water turning back on has been a huge prayer request for us. Running water is a luxury I have often taken for granted. This month, however, I have realized how much of a blessing it is. Without running water, our ministry has had to pay 600% of the cost of running water in order to haul water from a water tower which is a quarter-mile away. The men and some of the ladies (including yours truly) have helped in this twice-daily chore. Hauling 45-pound jugs of water several times each day is a tiring job, not to mention the added inconvenience of simple tasks such as washing your hands, taking a shower, or doing dishes.
This morning, I was listening to music, trying to think of what to write a blog about, when all of the sudden my laptop inexplicably turns off and I hear Dani say, “Ray, we have running water, but the house is flooding.”
I walked into the hallway to find Kristen, Dani and Ray hurriedly relocating backpacks and mopping up the two inches of water which had accumulated on the living room floor from the bathroom.
Our ministry contact, Angie, has been waiting for the water to turn on for much longer than we have. This has been one of many challenges for her and the ministry. Angie has faced health problems, difficulty in obtaining residence visas, issues with government regulations, and a fight for the legal adoption of the three kids she has taken in as her own.
God has placed me at Beacon of Hope for a reason, because I have needed to see Angie’s example of faith. Lately, my faith has been corroded by bitterness for the things I have given up.
Vulnerability Time 
!
Here are a few of the things I have felt I have given up while on the race:
Independent: I’ve had to depend on God to provide for me financially on the race. I can’t take pride in my financial responsibility any more.
Feeling pretty: Vain, I know. My clothes are tighter, my skin hates me, and I really don’t like the short haircut I got in Siem Reap.
I’ve even forgotten basic make-up skills.
Respect: When I was back home, I worked far more than is healthy, yet I received respect for my work ethic. Back home I also received respect for academics, and I had a good Christian reputation at work even though I was not really living for God. When I started the race, these things became insignificant, but I enjoyed respect for other things. At the beginning of the race, I felt respectable because of others’ perceptions of my spiritual growth. But in recent months, after all my issues sprung forth like old faithful, I don’t feel like I have much dignity left.
I chose to give up these things. I have no one to be mad at. I decided to trust God financially, live primarily off carbohydrates for a year, and be (perhaps unnecessarily) vocal about my weakest moment. Yet recently I have been resentful at God for the things I gave up.
Jesus said, “the Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field” (Matt. 13:44).
The man sells all that he has to buy a seemingly empty plot of land. What if the man returned to his field only to find the treasure missing. “God, I have traded everything for the treasure, but I don’t see it here anymore. Was everything I gave up in vain?” What if the man had to search the land for years before he uncovered the treasure once again.
While reading Genesis, God has reminded me that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had no evidence while on earth that their offspring would become a nation. It would take 500 years after the death of Joseph for the Isrealites to enter the promise land and form a nation, and another 1400 years for the full promise to be fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Kate pointed out this passage to me the other day:
13 All these people [referring to OT figures] died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:13-16
Abraham could have settled for a earthly home, but he instead decided to live in a tent as a nomad for most of his life.
Moses could have turned back to Egypt when the Lord told him he would never walk into the promise land because of the Israelites’ disobedience, but instead he led Israel to the east side of the Jordan River in Moab. There he climbed Mount Nebo to gaze on the land for which he had searched for almost half of his life.
34 Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land, from Gilead as far as Dan; 2 all the land of Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; all the land of Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea[a]; 3 the Negev; the Jordan Valley with Jericho—the city of palms—as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lordsaid to Moses, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.” 5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Lord had said.
Deuteronomy 34:1-5
Moses saw the earthly promise as he fell asleep to awaken to the eternal promise. Trading the earthly for the heavenly, Moses chose to have faith in the hidden promises of God.
Another example of faith is Noah. Noah spent 100 years building and preparing an ark with no visible sign of a coming flood. Yet one day, Noah and his family entered the ark, and God closed the doors, and the flood waters rose to regenerate the earth.
The mini-flood we experienced this morning is a reminder that faith and its consequential sacrifices for the promises of God are never in vain.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3
Have faith, because he is faithful.
P.S.
Angie and Kathy, our ministry contacts at Beacon of Hope, are in South Africa right now to get their residence visas. Please pray for favor for them to finally receive their visas without further complications!
