Welcome to Paradise…
Doesn't look much like paradise huh? That's because it isn't. This is Kibera, where the buildings are made of scrap metal, with leaky roofs and curtains for doors. Where children play around open sewage. Where people dig through piles of trash, alongside dogs, looking for scraps to eat, or junk to sell. Where the poorest of the poor in Kenya try to survive on a daily basis. Kibera is on the outskirts of Nairobi and is the largest slum in Kenya, and reportedly the largest slum in all of Africa. Definitely not paradise.
But this is…
Meet Pamela, who along with her husband David, and their five children, help take care of 115 orphaned children living in Kibera. Roughly five years ago Pamela and David founded Paradise Community Center, with the goal of helping to provide food, lodging and education to the abandoned children of the Kibera slum. Now, when I say they founded the community center, I don't mean they raised money, or took out grants or anything…they started it completely with their own finances. David is an architect with his own firm. Pamela was a local politician. They could have their own home, in a rich neighborhood, with a car and food to eat, with plenty to spare. They could be living a very comfortable life with plenty of luxury. But they don't. They live in a tiny, cramped home in the middle of the largest shanty-town in Africa. And they choose to live there because of love.
Their family relatives refuse to come visit them. Their friends tell them they have made a large number of poor decisions and are doing their children a disservice by living in Kibera. They have given up their "best life now" in favor of trying to provide it for others. Others who are helpless to do anything for themselves. Others who are homeless children. Pamela and David and their kids are living to serve Christ with loving and humble hearts. They are living for something greater than themselves at a great cost to themselves. They are living as loving servants for Jesus.
Our team has had the privilege of spending two days with Pamela and the children of Paradise Community Center. Through games, worship, dancing, prayer and conversations we have fallen in love with these kids.
Personally I have been impacted by the way Pamela and David are choosing to live….to see
what it looks like to believe in a cause more than themselves. To believe in the value of God's kingdom more than the value of their own lives. They aren't trying to help others while living outside and away form the problem, where it's safer and easier and with more comfort. They are living in the nitty gritty…rubbing shoulders daily with people society says are dirty, lazy, shifty, thieving, hopeless, drunk, addicted, uneducated and poor. Their life is an incredible example to me of what it means to take the blessings God gives us and to not simply enjoy them for ourselves, but to share them with others. David isn't using his education for his own gain, but for the gain of others. Pamela isn't using her time for her own children, but for 115 others. They aren't using their income to further and plan their own lives, but are sharing it with those who have nothing, providing them food, housing and hope. And somehow, they are finding joy in giving it all away.
Pamela and David aren't giving up one day a week to help people in need. They aren't giving up one weekend a month for the sake of others. They aren't throwing fundraisers in order to bring in money to give to a cause. They are living a life of service…day in and day out. Now, in all honesty, I am not trying to take anyone on a guilt trip. Not at all. This is still a very big pill for me to swallow, for me to think about and wonder about for my own life. And I know as believers and followers of Jesus we are called to different things…different lifestyles, different ministries, different forms of service. God does want us to enjoy His blessings. We each need to be seeking His guidance, and to live confidently in the life, and lifestyle He has led us to. I am not saying we all need to become poor, move to the slums and try our best to help the people there. However, I am trying to help wake up so many "comfortable Christians" with examples, stories and photos of people who are discovering what it looks like to lose their own life for Christ's sake in order to find it. I am trying to get you thinking about what if…what if God is calling you to more, to something riskier, to something more dangerous, to something deeper, to something different, to something that is less of you and more of Jesus? What if…? What if…?
There are believers out there who have decided their treasure, their worth, is not in the things of this world. It's in Jesus. There are believers out there who are discovering joy by giving it away. There are believers out there who are discovering MORE LIFE by dying to themselves….by trusting their Father to the point of foolishness, and who are discovering it's all worth it. They aren't coming back to the safe side of the fence. They aren't returning to pure comfort because it's easier….they are staying in the risk, the unknown, the sacrifice…because they find it to be worth it. It wasn't just the apostles or early believers in Acts. It's happening now. All over the world. And God's kingdom is coming through it all. Lives are being redeemed and changed forever. Hope is bringing people and communities back to life. Love is winning.
Don't you wonder if there's more of that for you to experience? Don't you wonder? I think there is. And I am also starting to think it comes with a lot more risk and need for trust and faith in a God much, much bigger than me and much, much better and loving than I could ever imagine.
So what if…what if He is calling you to something deeper? Something outside of your comfort zone? What if? What if…?
