Manyatta

Manyatta is a low-income village in Kisumu, Kenya.  My very first stop was at a general store where I met Teresa.  What are the odds?  She even spelled her name right, I teased her.

She welcomed me from the wooden bench she was sitting on.  We talked about her general store.  She was working this early morning and would do so until late evening. She strives to earn 6500 shillings a month.  That’s nearly fifty American dollars.   A paying customer arrived with 30 shillings for goods while I was there.  Twenty-three cents.  At this rate, Teresa will need 215 more paying customers by the end of the month. Today, she hopes to get five.  Monthly earnings will cover both home and shop rental and school fees for 3 children, if possible.  Meals for her family are mostly porridge, cabbage and on good days, fish.

A leader on the trip prepped us before our daily journeys.  His wise words were, “You’re going to see heavy things.  Carry it as a prayer not a burden.”

This was true.  I did see heavy things.  One child who was yet three was thrusted into a window towards me to tell this mzungu her name. His frustration with her shyness had him calling her names I wish no child would hear.  I carry her as a prayer.

“Help us love our country,” a pastor asked of us.

We witnessed his.  He’s championing a wholistic ministry that cares about the souls of those in his community but also their needs.  He took us to visit a woman who never misses a Sunday to worship and is never late.  Her home was near collapse with the infestation of termites.  I carry her as a prayer.

“We do what we can and leave the rest to the Lord,” a pastor said.

So, I leave to the Lord a husband’s return, a legal land title, increased businesses, health restored, church completions, a book published, a hospital dream and other cries.

“He has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy.  He has not turned His back on them, but has listened to their cries for help.”

“Listen!  The Lord is not too weak to save you, and He is not becoming deaf.  He can hear you when you call.”

He is near.

He can hear.

Psalm 34:17

Psalm 22:24

Isaiah 59:1

Antonina

Antonina.

There was a day last year while in Kenya, Africa that a team of us were visiting and cheering on a church sponsored soccer event in an open rutted field with a team of mostly juvenile slide-sandal players.

I met Antonina.

She was on the sidelines.  A little unapproachable at first, I thought.  But, I made my way towards her choosing to engage instead of watching the recreational play.

She shared she’d been working nearby that day for a family that she housecleaned.  She admitted trying to work enough to earn money to get her children back from her mother who was caring for them until she could afford to do so.  Feeling little worth, she was making mere dollars a day to clean one family’s home.

Through the mission trip we were on, I had been learning how the churches work with their members alongside Life in Abundance to help restore hope, dignity and self-sufficiency to generate more income by offering micro-loans to begin a business.

I had shared with her a woman’s success story that we witnessed who had borrowed enough money to purchase a bag of flour to make and sell mandazi, a fried bread.  The goal for each business is to make a profit that allows tithing back to the supporting church and also create a personal savings program for themselves.  This success story had that woman working her way up one bag of flour at a time that was now operating with 20 bags of flour.  To the glory of God, she was successfully working her way out of the slums in which she lived.

It has been a year since this first encounter.  Our return trip to Kenya was to a church we visited and we were being introduced to the members and their businesses that help support them.  When all the introductions had been made and our time was closing, Antonina came up and asked if I remembered her.

I could not immediately recall this happy, smiling, bright-eyed individual before me.  She told me about our encounter on the soccer field and that she is now a member of this church and selling charcoal to earn additional income to become self-reliant.  She wanted me to know that she remembered my prayers for her.

I was reminded of the success story that I had shared and that I had prayed with her in hopes her future would hold something brighter to generate additional income and bring her children back to her.

This faithful woman of God is enduring life’s trials in present time yet holding on to hope for the future of her children now, but also believing in the greater hope of eternity.

“For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children.  It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.  And God, in His mighty power will protect you until you receive this salvation because you are trusting Him.  There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.”

Antonina is her name.

It has a meaning.

“Priceless.”

1 Peter 1:4-6

Grown Grass

The grass is freshly mowed.

What a temporary enjoyment.  It’s been trimmed and blown, too.  It looks nice and I’m so content with it for this one little minute.

I’m going to sit in the pleasure of it. But, only for a moment.  In less than one week,  I’ll soon find myself restless and discontent with the sight of grown grass needing cut again.

Grass grows so fast.  So does my discontent.

It’s like the short-lived satisfaction of an empty laundry hamper. Fleeting.  Fleeting.  It’s all so fleeting.

There is pure momentarily delight, but then grass grows and laundry baskets refill.

King Solomon, the wisest man in all the world who had all that anyone could ever want concluded, “What do people get for all their hard work? Everything is so weary and tiresome!  No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied.  Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless, like chasing the wind.  Everything is meaningless.  Utterly meaningless.”

So life from a purely earthly perspective is meaningless.

The opposite of a king was the apostle Paul living in a Roman prison who stated that he had learned to be content with whatever he had.

So I think, contentment can be learned.

He said he knows the secret of living in every situation.

So I think, there’s a secret.

He determined it’s to do everything through Christ who gives you strength.  It’s this same God who takes care of you that will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

So, it’s in Christ Jesus!

I want to be content to watch this grow.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-8

Philippians 4:11

Bandana Bandit

This little bandana bandit strutted on the court and professed, “I love cheating.  It makes me win everyday.”

He snookered his little brother.

Wisdom straight from King Solomon 101 says, “What is gotten by cheating others will soon be gone.”  I mean, proverbs aren’t promises but they are probabilities.

He’s only knee-high to a grasshopper, yet without God’s wisdom we can all be tempted by some kind of greed for some kind of gain.

The book of Proverbs has a purpose to teach this wisdom and discipline.  It states,  “through these, people will receive instruction in discipline, good conduct and doing what is right, just, and fair.  These proverbs will make the simpleminded clever.  Proverbs give knowledge and purpose to young people.”

I suppose it’s easier to master the mind to know things than try to rule our own heart to do things. But, Proverbs tell us this wisdom is better than silver and its wages are better than gold.

“Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.  Cry out for insight and understanding.  Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure.  The Lord grants wisdom.”

That’s worth a lot.

It makes us win every day.

Proverbs 1:2-7; 2:2, 3:14

Matthew 11:19