Fact:
HIV/AIDs is making a killing field of our world
Fact: Over half the population in the Kingdom of Swaziland
is infected with HIV
Fact: A third has already perished and their children remain
orphaned
Truth: Jesus made a difference while on earth
…
I want to, too.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works I
do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to
My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that My Father may
be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.�
John 14:12-14
We completed our first month in Africa. The squad split into our
smaller teams and we were dispersed among the nations of the southern tip of
Africa. My team (Kaleo) moved into the small community of Nsoko in the Kingdom
of Swaziland.
Here is an account of our first day of ministry.
Speeding down the highway, we left our tented homes in the
presence of “Lucky� the Lion at Nisela Safaris, a small hideaway from the
truths of Swaziland. Our host was preparing us for ministry. We would be taking
on the project of profiling all the children at various G42 “Care Points�.
Eventually the children’s profiles will be posted on the G42 website with the
hopes of them being sponsored by families in North America. He tried to prepare
us for the reality we were about to step into, but even a heads-up can’t hold
back the feeling of retreat my soul wants to make when faced with hopelessness
and uncertainty.
Mbuthu is a “Care-Point� set up by the organization, G42
(Generation 42). It is a feeding center for orphaned and needy children in the
area. Gogo’s (Grandmothers) and teachers are organized to prepare 2 meals a day
and provide some basic teachings for the kids. Compensation for their serving hearts
are the guaranteed 2 meals a day.
Sixty or so children gathered at a junction where gusting wind and
dust met with the sole purpose of tormenting your eyes. An old chicken coup is
the structure in which they seek refuge. Children were being shuffled back and
forth as multiple woman tried organizing the kids to have their photos taken by
us. I stood for the longest time, lost in the sea of smiling faces. They were
so happy we had come to visit. My face vacant of emotion. I hardly even
questioned why some children had no bottoms to cover them, or why these 8 year
olds were carrying their siblings on their backs for hours with no respite, or
why shoes for anyone is nearly nonexistent. I was snapped out of my “soul
retreat� by the pulling of all my fingers from countless children gathered
around me yearning for my attention.
Multiple times I found myself zoning out from the scenery of
children around me, and at the end of the day I realized that a culture of corrupt and misleading media at home has made it easy for me to close my heart right at the
point where it should break with compassion for the world around me. Look at how
Christ lived when He was on Earth. His life was consumed with compassion for
the undesirable, the forgotten, the overlooked. And yet here I was, standing in
front of many who have been forgotten and my mind goes off on “retreat� because
the problem seems bigger than I am. It’s time for a change. It’s time to BE
compassion and not just say I feel it. It’s about that time I start living the
life of Christ FOR those around me and not just for myself. In the words of Tom
Davis, author of “Red Lettersâ€�, “…our world should not be defined by despair
and disease, but defined by the product of compassion: hope.� I want to ask
Jesus for a nation and watch His all consuming love burn up the hardened hearts
of men and stand that nation back on its feet ready to stand for the Kingdom of
God. I want to see orphans covered in the protection of a most loving,
Righteous and Holy Father. I want to know that I can ask Jesus for the
impossible and He’ll provide.
Fact: HIV/AIDs is making a killing field of our world
Truth: MY GOD SAVES
