The cross…
A day of ministry in Zambia.
We were having kids club. The ages @ 6-14. We had eight different stations of activities to do. There was face painting, craft station, Christmas story, shooting station, trampoline jumping, music station and two sports stations. It was a very successful event of children coming. There were around two hundred children there. It was a very challenging day to stay focused of what I was there for as it was very rioty sometimes and it made my head spin at times. Those are the times when God still shows up and gives us a breath of living water. He did it for me so many times that day. To me it felt as if I was running all over the place and not accomplishing anything. I was planning on partnering with my friend Abby and help with the Bible story doing it with puppets. My plans were changed right away when I arrived as I was basically the point person because one of people that planned on being there couldn’t be there until the very end. It was ok it’s called being flexible.
There were a lot of things that were eye opening to me and one of them was how important water is. It was a very hot day as you know Africa is always hot. We had to stay hydrated so we don’t get a heat stroke or also to keep our bodies healthily functional. It reminded me of the true living water from the word of how important it is that we drink from the word everyday. I had another opportunity that God gave me and it was the highlight of my day. In the morning, soon after we arrived, I heard someone say my name and it was not a familiar voice. I looked up and it was a 12 year old boy and I had talked to him the week before when we had kids club. So we chatted again and soon the ministry started so we parted and went to our stations. As the day went on, when we had a break, we would always be chatting. He told me his life story and he did not have a great life but he has accepted Jesus as his savior but is struggling a lot with the way his parents relationship went. They are divorced now but he doesn’t like it. He is the only child. He said that when he grows up he doesn’t want that to happen to him. I encouraged him that it is possible if he continues his relationship with the Lord. In the end God told me to give him a crochet cross that we were given at the beginning of the race to really pray and ask the lord who to give it to. I gave it to him, the look on his face was priceless and then I prayed for him. That was my favorite part of the day as if it wasn’t for Jesus who gave his life and was crucified for us on the cross. I would not have a victorious life. We can rejoice in the suffering of Jesus as it says in Romans…
“For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:4-11
It’s because of Jesus that we have been set free. If we have Jesus in our hearts we have everything, it is up to us if we want to live a life that represents that Jesus is fully alive in us.
This is the boy that received the cross that day. Please pray for him and his parents!
Blessings!!!
