Since starting the race I have found myself constantly picking up and moving to the next place, so why would Kenya be any different. My team and I found our first home in Nakuru, Kenya. Some people have been tenting or hammocking and others found floor space inside the house. Every morning we wake up to the four dogs barking, four goats, multiple chickens and geese quacking, and five screaming children getting ready for school. This has become our temporary home away from home. After long days out or trips away from the compound I find so much joy walking through that light blue rusted fence.
Over the last week we have found our home to be on the move. As part of our ministry this month, our friend Sam, has been showing us all around Kenya. He is connected with many ministries and we had the opportunity to visit at least six of the ones he’s been a part of. Each ministry is unique in its own way but all of the ones that we went to were homes of the outcasted and homes of the broken. We found ourselves sharing God’s hope in communities like the LGBT community, women living with HIV, children who have been trafficked, and women who have been abused or had a previous addiction.
Everyday was a new travel day to a new community or town. Many of the times our team didn’t know where we would be staying, so we hopped on a five hour bus with hope that someone would be waiting for us on the other side. Each time God provided a space for us to set up camp for the night and people who opened up there homes and lawns. I got to watch my team love people well even in the midst of people not feeling well. We all chose to be all in for the whole ride.
It’s weeks like this where I just fall in love with this way a life. Spending a couple of nights here and there, meeting new people, and waking up in new places is a wild experience. It takes me back to to Abram. In one of the conversations between Abram and God, God asked Abram to leave his country and go to the place God would show him (Genesis 12:1.) Our group is simply doing that here in Kenya. The places that God has been showing me have been remarkable. From cities to villages and even a night with a tribe, we have walked the dusty roads of Kenya proclaiming the goodness of God. Each day is a new adventure filled with so many unknowns. But my team and I, choose to faithfully walk it out. So all we can do is listen to God and trust that He will guide our steps.
Like Abram, our team has lived out of a tent this past month and for me that looks like only bringing items that fit in my book bag. This life style has had me thinking a lot of Abrams story and the lifestyle of God’s first family and how they lived out of tents. People who live our of tents are known as travelers and recognize that where they live is not their true home. God constantly had Abram moving and never getting comfortable. Through that Abram lived with very little possessions but was always stayed faithful to what God asked of him. Abram understood that earth was not his home, that the possessions he owned where not his, and at any moment God might ask him to pick up and move. He valued the time he spent in God’s presence and didn’t allow his belongings to control him.
All this to say, God has been teaching me that we are called to be sojourners. To constantly be moving until God’s plan is completed on earth. We are all called to go: go to the outcasted, go to the mistreated, go and be like Christ to everyone. In one of the podcast that I’ve been listening to Marty Solomon references Gods people. Solomon said’s “God is looking for people to go and be the message of Christ and not just bring the message of Christ.” I think this reigns true for me today. I want to be a known as a follower based off of how I live and not just what I preach. So knowing that this is not my home I have the ability to keep moving and keep showing people who Christ is!
~Lacy Jolene~
