Back home I can probably point you to four, maybe five Kentucky Friend Chicken restaurants but that is about it because they are so rare. Here in Africa, KFC has a lot of restaurants, almost like one on every corner when you’re in the bigger cities. After church one Sunday I talked a couple of my squad mates (Christa, Todd and CJ) into joining me for some lunch at a local KFC. Near this KFC is a large population of homeless people that are consistently on the corners asking for anything that will get them their next meal. As we walked to this KFC a man whose African name means Compassion came up to us asking for food. I tried to convince him to eat with us for lunch but he told me that the KFC establishment there wouldn’t let him in because they think he is too dirty so we took his order and bought his food when we bought all of our own. As we waited on the food to be ready I watched Compassion through the window; he is a genuinely happy guy who greeted everyone as they walked by. He was no longer asking for food or money at the moment because he knew we were getting him enough food for the next couple meals; instead he was just greeting everyone with a warm smile but people just seemed to ignore him.
When the food arrived I walked it out to Compassion and struck up a conversation with him. “Do you have a place I can live?” he asked. “I live on that street ally over there and beg for food or money everyday.” I told him that we were missionaries here in Swaziland for only one month and I didn’t know of anywhere he could live. He then proceeds to tell me that a couple years back he got sick and through that sickness the doctors said he was mentally ill. Some how the sickness got into his brain and he could no longer function like a normal person in that society. If you were to meet Compassion on the street like I did you would have never known that he was considered mentally unstable. For that reason alone no one in the area would hire him for a normal job. “I don’t want to be homeless but right now I have no choice.” Those words he spoke still ring in my ear today. After that I go inside KFC and get Christa, Todd and CJ and tell them what was going on and that I wanted us to pray for Compassion together. When we got outside they all introduced themselves and then Compassion asks them for a place to live just as he did me. Instantly through my spirit I spoke to this man just like Peter and John spoke to the lame man who asked them for money. “Compassion” I said, “We don’t have any money we can give you but what we can give you is something far better; we can give you Jesus. Can we pray for you?” “Yes, please pray for me!” exclaimed Compassion. The four of us then laid hands on this man right in the parking lot of KFC and began to speak life and love over him. Afterwards we hugged him, talked for a few more moments and we went our separate ways. For the next couple weeks as we walked through the city, if Compassion saw us he would shout all of our names, wave and run up to us like we were life-long best friends. What he needed was for someone to show him some love and compassion and to show him that he is still wanted and loved.
When I signed up for the race I would have never expected to spread the love of Jesus in the parking lot of a KFC but God will work in many different ways if you are willing to be used in every aspect of your life. I am learning that the goal isn’t just to finish these 11 months and say Yeah I’ve been on a mission trip for a year but rather it is me slowly learning how to live missionaly in every part of my life from now until the end of my life.
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