Pastor Tom Odur is the humble leader of Victory Outreach
church in Ajaa B. He is also the overseer of the Compassion International
program that gives to 230 children in the village. Pastor Tom has nine
children, and they live in a small homestead complete with grass huts, and two
and a half tin roof houses. After a large corn harvest last year, Pastor Tom
began to build a new home for his family, but the money ran out before the
project could be completed. When you first meet this man, you are overwhelmed
by his joy and excitement. His laughter is contagious. In the past two weeks of
living with him, he has also gone out of his way to make “his visitors”
comfortable and happy. I have felt almost as much love from this man as I would
from my own family.
Throughout the day people are always coming and going
visiting with Pastor, and he always ends by praying for them. Most of the
people who come are widows and orphans. Even though by Western standards,
Pastor Tom has hardly more to his name than a few cows, he is always giving.
Out of his small income, he supports orphans from the village to help them with
school fees and is always praying for the widows. His heart to serve the people
of his village humbles me each day. Furthermore, each month, the tithes from
his church service are pooled together and loaned out to members of the
village, nothing goes to him and his own family.
Being in Ajaa B for the past two weeks has constantly
reminded me of the widow’s offering Jesus describes in Mark 12:41-44. The
people I have been blessed to meet give abundantly out of what the rest of the
world would call nothing. In a village with no electricity or running water,
Pastor Tom and his leaders are caring abundantly for the needs of the poorest
of the poor. If they can give out of so little, why can’t I give out of the
abundance God has given me? While on
earth Pastor Tom may live in a humble mud house with a tin roof and his
children sleep in grass houses, I know that in heaven he will have a mansion. After
spending a month with such a generous man, I hope that I too can give out of
the abundance God has blessed me with in America.
