As I go into this last leg of the race sitting on a bus to Swaziland I can’t help but think about all that I have seen over the past 7 months.
I think back to India and the slums there. I think about how lost that country is, I can visibly see the alter beside the hospital and people going in, placing the red of the alter on their forehead and praying to a golden god. I see the man in our favorite slum who was Hindu but asked for prayer to be released from his alcohol addiction. Now let’s think about this one. A man who openly worships the 30+ million Hindu gods is asking me, who is claiming to worship the God of all Creation, for prayer. No this man did not give his life to the Lord that day and I don’t know if he has since I left India almost 7 months ago, but I do know that his soul acknowledges the existence of another God than those he worships. He sought us out knowing that the God we pray to can actually hear us and act on it.
In Nepal, my team and I had to walk about 5 miles in the mud to get to church one day. At the time I was so frustrate and I was not enjoying myself. Even up till now I still look back on that day as a burden and annoying. However, sitting on this bus God showed me that this is the reality for many believers in the world. They have to walk miles and miles across tough terrain to get to church. The church they are traveling so many miles to attended is nothing special in the eyes of the American church goer. It is in a small room of someone’s house. There is no air conditioning or even a fan to circulate the air. The room is so full of believers that you can hardly squeeze yourself in. In yet they travel so far to be there. Why? Because Jesus is worth it. He is worth the travel and He is worth the uncomfortable meeting space. Getting to hear His word is worth it all.
Fast forward to Cambodia. An area that was once the known location to purchase a child for sex has been transformed. The street that once had more than 15 brothels on it filled with children is now a street lined with Jesus Christ. The brothels have been shut down, the buildings now house a ministry called Agape International Ministries. They are giving the people of the community jobs with pay and mandatory bible study. They are teaching them about God while giving the families income so they don’t have to sell their daughters to make rent. Lives of the abused have been saved and they are now working to bring awareness to the lives they once lived.
A pastor of a small church in Thailand was saved from addiction. He is American and was addicted to narcotics for many years. He was high in a friends house when a man came and asked what he wanted for breakfast. Feeling sassy he responded with a full course meal complete with eggs, bacon, toast, and juice. 30 minutes later he is woken from his drunken sleep to the man presenting him with the meal. This was the first action of God’s love he had ever seen. He was freed from his addiction and dedicated his life to showing others the love he saw from the Father. Him and his family now serve in Phuket, Thailand.
A husband and wife in Namibia live with the bare minimum. They say they don’t need more because the more would take away from things they could be giving to the Lord. They spend all day doing God’s work. Training teachers to teach children who can’t afford to go to school in their homes, helping run the church and provide basic needs for a slum community, visiting the forgotten in a nursing home, playing with kids and families who’s home is a dump, a literal dump.
All of this is nothing more, nothing less than an account of God’s heart being lived out. The world even a dark one that turns to other gods, other means of happiness, still knows there is a God, a one true God who is capable to healing, restoring, bring the dead to life. I have been witness to the glory of God through the the world. God is moving! He is active and He is worthy to be praised. He is not an option out here, He is a dependence. He isn’t something that can be opted into, people meet in secret to learn His word. People who choose to follow Him run the risk of being kicked out of their families and left homeless. Following Jesus is a real risk in some places in the world. At home there is no risk involved so the reliance on Him is not needed. Please readers find that reliance. Find that urgency. Know that the God you serve is a God worth people risking their lives for, a God worth leaving home for, a God who is acknowledged by those who claim another god. He is worthy of our whole devotion. His call to us to “Follow Me” is literal, and not just with the parts of ourselves we are willing to give up, but the hard parts. The things we love most. Following Jesus is not easy, if it is for you then you are missing it. He tells us it will be hard. He doesn’t promise it will be anything less, but He does promise eternal treasure in return for our devotion. He promises abundance for those who give up everything. He calls us to less so that we have room to find and receive the more. Ask God to show you why He is worth following with your whole life! I pray you will find a dependence on God like never before and that you get a new revelation of who He is.my trip is not over.
I am overwhelmed with the things I’ve seen, and I can’t wait to see more.
