“What are you going to give me?”
“I’m hungry, aren’t you going to bring me food?”
“I like your shorts, give them to me.”
“Money, money”
These are all typical things I hear as I walk through my little village.
This is how they see white people here.
Who gave them this standard of Americans?
We did.
For years people have came to Africa and handed out money, clothes, and food.
But isn’t life so much more than that?
What happens to them when the food runs out? When the clothes wear out? When the money is gone?
They are lost and end up with even less than they started with.
They are dependent—just waiting for the next group of white people to come into town to survive.
I do not believe this is what the Lord intended when He said, “Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick”.
It had to have meant more than that.
God’s love is MORE than that; it is more than just hand outs.
For the past few weeks me and my teammates have been visiting this family.
10 people live in this house.
The eldest in the house is Rebekah, she is 96 years old.
Rebekah’s daughter, Mary, lives there as well and she herself is in her 60s.
Among them are two single moms (one 8 months pregnant), 4 children left with their grandparents, and an 18 year old girl.
Every time we visit, Rebekah expresses her hunger to me, expecting food.
The other day after growing burdened of her asking for food, I simply asked one of them if we could just help them do things around the house.
So we washed their clothes, every single piece of smelly clothing.
Their clothes. Their water. Their soap. Our hands.
I asked if there was something else we could help with.
“Firewood”, they said.
So, the next day we went with Maria (8 months pregnant I might add) to help gather firewood.
Maria showed us exactly what to do, she just needed our hands.
Their direction. Their wood. Their tools. Our hands.
After this day. They were overjoyed. Rebekah and Mary both shook all our hands saying, “Dankie, dankie”. Which means thank you.
I told Mary she was welcome but we only did it because we loved them so much. She said, “I am starting to see that”.
She is starting to see that.
So isn’t real love from Christ so much more than handing out food, money, and clothes?
It is more than just the action, but instead the belief of the action that is being done.
Don’t get me wrong it is so much easier to just hand someone money or a nice plate of food.
But that’s exactly it, it’s easier.
However, I have learned time and time again that the Lord rarely calls us to easy.
Instead he calls us to do the unimaginable: love people like He did.
This being said, I don’t have it all figured out and I never will.
I believe there are some instances when the Lord may just call you to provide for a quick need in the spur of the moment.
He will still use these moments for great impacts as well.
But being here in the midst of this it just makes sense that there has to be more than just a quick fix.
Which is something I hope that the family across the street begins to realize as well.
