Clean Pieces Of Trash
Our ministry in Eldoret consisted of our team going out to bustling markets and setting up “an open air crusade”. We would plug in the guitars and piano and microphones and sing praises to God. While singing and praising, there are also usually children dancing and twirling and laughing to the music. After some time of this, a member from our team takes the microphone with a translator, and shares something God has been teaching them.
Our ministry in Eldoret consisted of our team going out to bustling markets and setting up “an open air crusade”. We would plug in the guitars and piano and microphones and sing praises to God. While singing and praising, there are also usually children dancing and twirling and laughing to the music. After some time of this, a member from our team takes the microphone with a translator, and shares something God has been teaching them.
The other day was my turn to preach. I felt inadequate. I felt like I had nothing to share with these people. I struggled with this, and I began to pray. I started preparing something about the Greatest Commandment, and about treating every tiny soul as if they were Jesus. I began to feel a little more confident, but still not totally excited. When we got to the field across from the market, there were lots of children gathering around as the sound system was being set up and the musicians were practicing. I was feeling pretty confident by now in what I was going to say, so I decided to go play with the kids. We started dancing to the music and clapping and playing follow the leader games. It got to the point where every single thing I did, the children would copy. There were at least 25 children I was playing with. They could not speak a word of English and I could not speak a word of swahelee, but they were all completely cooperative! I started to pat my tummy and rub my head, and all 25 of the children would attempt to do the same. I would leap across the field pretending to be a world famous gymnast one minute and a fierce karate master the next. And sure enough, there would be 25 children thinking they were Chuck Norris as they would leap across the field pretending to be world famous gymnasts. God had wrapped those kids around my finger, and I felt God telling me to change my sermon.
So just before I was about to go up I started gathering berries amd trash for my sermon. When I got up there, I presented to the kids “the greatest story ever told”. I used the golden berry held by a girl in a yellow shirt to talk about heaven, and God’s great love for His creation. I used the dark berry held up by a kid in a black shirt to represent sin. And a kid in a red shirt to represent Jesus’ blood. Then a child with a white shirt with a clean peace of trash I had found on the floor, to represent being made clean. Lastly, I used the green color to represent growth as a christian. These colors all represent the wordless book, which is actually how I was saved when my mom “read” it to me as a child.
I left the field that day, not knowing if any of those children had received Jesus as their Savior, or even if I had planted any seeds. I did leave the field that day, however, knowing that God is my constant provider and will use me no matter how inadequate I may feel. I left that field being reminded that God keeps His promises, and that if we just step out in faith and allow Him too, He will speak through us.
