If I could only pick one lesson that I learned from my 4 months in Ethiopia, then it would be this: Faith.
God taught me faith before I left--providing $5,000 for my trip. God taught me while I was there. And God is teaching me now.
I would like to share with you a devotional of sorts on the subject of faith I wrote during my last few days in Ethiopia. It's a long read, but please read it.
Faith. It is something you can allow to control you, or something
you control. We can allow it to be our steering wheel, or we can make it a
bobble head on our dash board--we have it with us, but it's not significant
enough to change our direction or to affect anything else.
We can wrap our faith in rags of doubt and bury them in a
chest, claiming to have faith but not really have it.
It can be small, medium, or large. And even the smallest
amount of faith can do amazing things. We can call out to the mountain “Get up
and go into the ocean” and it will. But that's a crazy thought. It's not
possible and it's ludicrous. How can simply having faith and commanding a
mountain to move cause it to relocate? But God says it'll happen even in the
tiniest form of faith.
Of course, when doubts come in, our faith becomes hidden,
transparent, and destroyed. Focusing on the limitations of what we hope to
accomplish will create in us a doubt that squelches our faith. But the key is
to focus on the Master of the impossible. To focus on the One who created that
mountain and that ocean and the laws of science that make us doubt the
reality of the promise.
God calls us to faith several times in His word. He asks us
where our faith is; he offers to expand it; he requires it. It's essential in
salvation; it's essential in sanctification; and it's essential in simple life.
Without faith we put God in a box of possibilities and thus limit his
grandness. When we don't allow God the opportunities to show up in
indescribable ways we begin to get accustomed to His portrayed limited powers.
We begin to get used to the idea that God can't do something. We stop
asking Him to do amazing things because we've come to the point where we've
forgotten that His amazing acts haven't stopped since the Apostles' day and
we've stopped believing in His true and unlimited power.
God brings us to bridges to test our faith. Sometimes the
bridges are the only way to go, so we are forced to choose faith and continue
forward or choose doubt and turn backwards. But sometimes the bridges are forks
in the road. One fork is flat, stable ground and the other is a teetering
bridge dangling over the chasm of jagged rocks and gushing water. Our immediate
thoughts are to take the stable over the dangling. Sometimes the choice isn't
even dire as far as sinning or not, but we do miss out on opportunities to
challenge God at his promises. (And God loves it when we challenge Him at his
promises. He wants us to come to the point where we test to see if His word is
actually true or not.)
So the thing is: what fork are you at? What does that
alternate bridge pathway look like? Is it impossible to cross? Is the wind too
strong, the chances of falling too high? We know God will keep our feet from
slipping when we are following His way; therefore we can have an opportunity to
see whether His word is true. We can step out on that bridge, feel the wind
sway our bodies precariously over the expanse of imminent death. We can even
close our eyes and allow the Spirit of God to hover over and flow through our
bodies, urging each member forward in His direction. We can have faith in His
Spirit to direct faithfully and safely. Sure death may scream at us, injury
taunt us; but we know God won't let us slip since we are allowing the Spirit to
lead.
Now, this bridge could be anything. What job to take; where
to move. It could even be a larger issue like whether to adopt, who to adopt;
which country to move to when we know God wants us at one of two or more
places.
But I want to present the bridge of sponsorship. It is at
least a bridge I see in front of me. And it is a bridge I wish to introduce you
to consider crossing.
With my trip to Ethiopia for 4 months, I've seen numerous
stories, numerous families, and numerous needs. Some families live with a
disabled guardian/parent, some live with siblings barely older than them, some
live under the care of an aging grandmother and all living in the same room.
The need is great; the hardships are long and severe.
When I first came here, I had no thought about sponsoring. It
never crossed my mind. Maybe adopting when I'm settled in with a wife after
college, but nothing else for any time soon. But after about a month here I've
been confronted in my mind with the thought. At first I perhaps had a more
selfish view and considered sponsoring kids who connected and bonded with me
while I'm here (or more specifically, one kid in particular). But now it's not
so much as a bond with the kid, but their needs. But even with the reality of
their needs being the main issue, God has given me a connection with the few
kids I've been considering sponsoring at one point or another in my life. One
kid has three siblings living together in a single room (with two or three
additional rooms: “kitchen” and bathroom). Two of the kids are fully sponsored
with BCI, one is 1/3 sponsored, and the kid I'm considering sponsoring has no
sponsors. So, the family is living off of whatever money the mother can earn (she
has HIV and is getting sick a lot) and two full sponsorships and one sponsorship.
But there is still a kid without any sponsors and one who just has one. And
there is a baby, so the need for nutrition is at a somewhat higher level for
her, the baby.
Another kid has just one sponsor. He lives with his
grandmother who takes care of him and three other kids. Two are older from what
I understand, but it didn't seem like they provide much money for the family.
And there is also another younger child—a toddler. But this kid has only one
sponsor for all of them to share.
Another kid isn't in the program. He parents died years ago
and was taken in by his neighbors. I'm not sure when he was taken it and how
many kids there were then in the house, but now there are six other children
besides him. Two are 2 years old, the rest go up in age to the oldest who is
around 13(I think this kid, who is being considered being sponsored, is
actually the oldest, though there may be a girl who is around 15). This kid
tries to earn money by selling things on the street, but it isn't safe for him for
at least the reason of his health. People don't wash their hands well—if at
all—here and he could risk getting diseases through that or through cuts. Of
the 7 kids who live with the older woman, only two are in the BCI program.
And each of these kids has demonstrated a bond and connection
with me. Which helps indicate at least who I should sponsor at first. Because
all BCI kids have needs, all kids have relatives or guardians who have HIV or
who have died from it. A lot of kids have little sponsorships or are the only
sponsors in a family of four or more. But obviously I couldn't sponsor each and
every kid on my own. Nor has God given me an impression to sponsor each and
every kid. He has impressed me with three kids to start with. Each need at
least 2/3 sponsorship.
I have no job. I have no cash hidden away. I have college
next semester. And I desire to come back here for a trip. I have a lot of
things I need to save and pay for when I start my endeavor into college and the
rest of my life. And once I do get a job, the most probable thing would be me
getting a basic job with a semi-minimum wage pay.
Sponsorship is $30/month. So, full sponsorship is $90/month.
In order for the one kid to get in the program, he needs full sponsorship. So,
to add it all up I would need to pay at least $180/month. But that doesn't
count full sponsorship for one kid. It just gives him 1/3 sponsorship. To give
him full sponsorship, the total would be $240/month. That's nearly $3000 a
year.
It may be that God wants me to fully sponsor these kids ASAP,
or just one at a time as faith increases and God provides.
It's ludicrous to think I can do this. It's rather stupid to
commit myself to this. Perhaps it is stupid. Maybe it's unsafe. What if I'm
able to pay for half a year, but once that ½ year is up I'm unable? Wouldn't
BCI be upset? Wouldn't the children be heartbroken? Wouldn't their faith drop
some because God finally provided and then it was taken away from them?
Maybe I should think about it in that light. Not that I can't
pay $3000 a year, but that once I start sponsoring these children, why would
God then snatch it away from them? He is a loving God, not a cruel God. He
promises that He will supply every need of ours according to his riches and
glory in Christ Jesus. So, it's not so much a matter of me. I don't need that
$3000 dollars. Those children need the money and He will provide their needs.
It's amazing how I don't even need to worry about them
“keeping their end of the deal” as far as faith goes—because they have it--if
not even more than me. It was interesting one day when I decided to buy
groceries and God made it so that the normal thing that would be bought wasn't
available so the next thing on the list of needs was bought, and that was
sugar. When I presented the mom the sugar, she was ecstatic and told me she and
her family had just run out of sugar that morning and she told her kids that
they needed to pray to God to provide it. And guess what. God did!
We are so used to an easy life that we are blinded to God's
working and God's provisions. We don't think about when an item at the store is
there or not that as being God's provision. We live with the flow. But when you
live a life where even the basic necessities are an unknown of when—or if—they
will arrive, you will see God work more often. Not because He cares any more or
less, but because we have our blinders lifted from our eyes. We can see more
and more of Him. When we have neighbors and friends and families all facing
bridges of faith with necessities, we can see Him working in their lives even
when He isn't immediately working in ours.
So, faith is as natural to them as breathing. It's a part of
their life that they cleave to because they know it works. A lot of times it's
more of a head knowledge for us because we don't need to have faith or need
to see God work. We're fine without Him and we can live with what we've
got.
But with faith, we also need the Spirit. There are two ways
we are told to walk in in the Scriptures. We are told to walk in faith and in
the Spirit. We can walk in faith, throwing ourselves onto those bridges forcing
God to come through on His promises. And we can walk in the Spirit. But we
can't walk in just one way.
If we walk in only faith, throwing ourselves onto the
bridges, then what happens if the bridge we toss ourselves on isn't the bridge
God wants us to cross? What if, even though it requires faith to cross, He
wants us to cross a different faith-bridge? We'll teeter and totter and slip
and fall. Not because God isn't faithful, but because He never promises to
protect us when we are out of His will.
So we need to walk in the Spirit; be led by the Spirit. And it's
impossible to walk by the Spirit if we have no faith—because we will be led to the
faith-bridges and forced to have faith or neglect it. Therefore, we need to
walk in the Spirit and allow Him to guide us to the faith-bridges. Then we can
know for certain we can cross that bridge with full protection and provision
because it's God's will for us.
So, when we come to the fork in the road and both are
conceptually God's will (as opposed to turning around in the faith and pursuing
the world), then we must pray. We must plunge into the Spirit's presence and
allow Him to fill our every being. Allow Him to surge into our feet and hands
and allow our minds to give God the reins to our lives. If He wants us to cross
the faith-bridge, then He will direct in that way. If not, He'll take us
through the stable ground until the next bridge or the next.
Bearing that in mind, I believe we are at a fork. At least I
am, and I feel God wants me to present you to this fork as well. Before you
take the step toward the bridge or away from the bridge, wait and commune
yourself into His presence. Figure out where His Spirit is urging your members
to turn and then follow that. As you step into whatever direction, faith will
build. If it's away, you may have doubts as to why He doesn't want you
sponsoring. But have faith to know He knows what He's doing. You have, after
all, allowed Him to take rein and control your body. So have faith and follow.
If it's toward the bridge, you may think it's ludicrous, that
He's not directing you that it's emotion. Just pray all the harder for
God to remove emotion from the reins and place Himself there. You may also
realize you have no money for this. Therefore to prevent financial crisis or
the demise of your family, you think you shouldn't sponsor these kids. But if
God is leading you, He will provide for you and the sponsored child.
Perhaps it's slightly more complicated. Perhaps you are
considering sponsoring, but you have plenty enough money to sponsor and
therefore maintain in a comfort bubble, not committing to more than what you
can do, thus not having faith since it's in the comfortable budget. (Now, I'm not
saying going into debt is the goal; that if you don't have the money to do it
that's the way to go. Remember before that just because it may require faith
that it doesn't mean it's necessarily of the Spirit? Well, if God doesn't
direct you to sponsor more than you are immediately able, then God isn't
directing you at this time. It still requires faith to step into a commitment
of sponsoring. Who knows if certain funds stop flowing? Who knows if you have a
sudden expense need? Other than God, that is. So, whatever God is directing you
to sponsor, if He is calling you to sponsor, and then sponsor that amount. Not
more. Not less.)
The option to sponsor a child is one of faith. The option of whom
and for how much is decided by being led by the Spirit. I've already explained
my bridge. I have three kids, all of whom need pretty much full sponsorship. I
don't know who I should sponsor. I don't know if I should sponsor all at the
same time. I'm pretty confident God does want me to sponsor each of these three
kids. But when, I'm not sure. He may just want me to sponsor one kid now and
add as faith increases. Maybe He wants me to plunge myself in His promises and
sponsor each of them.
And at the same time I feel a call to bring to light these
children. BCI is a great organization, but it's too small to affect too many
families. And it won't branch out until most of their kids have full
sponsorship. Which is wise, because otherwise they would be spread out too
thin. It's our duty to consider sponsoring children already in the program in
order for more kids' lives to be impacted--both through their physical needs
and their spiritual ones. (For example of spiritual, each kid is required to
attend their respective churches. Though their families are not, they have to
get there somehow and why waste the time going back and forth? So therefore the
families are affected as well as the individual kids.)
But I've heard the figure of children in either Debre Zeit or
all of Ethiopia is 10,000. We have in the program about 143 kids. That's about
1.5% of the children. Children that are starving, that are orphans, that are
roaming the streets because they have no other place to go. (My goal is not to
guilt trip or anything; just simply bring to light the reality of the
situation. We have 143 kids in the program, but not all are fully sponsored.
And because of that, we cannot reach out to more kids. And then BCI is at a
standstill because they are wise enough not to spread themselves out too much.)
So, consider sponsoring a child. You can either sponsor
$30/month or you can sponsor more.
1 John 3:17-18
“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in
need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little
children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
Well, the day began with us leaving the guest house to make it to the church. A lot of the kids were already there playing on the playground. Jonnett and I went to the main building to set up, but the door was locked so we just chilled with the families on the porch. This girl is Belean, if I remember right. She one of a couple sets of twins in the 5 churches. *If I remember by the end of this post, I'll share a completely unrelated story that happened with Jonnett, this child and her twin, and me.
Activity Day officially started with Nigist welcoming the children and beginning the day with some songs and prayer. Introductions were made, explanation of the day's events given, and then we split up. One group for crafts and Bible lesson. And the other for game time.
We played many games. One was Cats and Mice, where kids-cats chases kids-mice and turned them into cats.
The kids really enjoyed playing on the playground equipment. They would pile onto the see-saw and see how many could get on.
Sometimes they would be so piled up that they would slip down the poles and needed to be held up by others.
At every Activity Day they serve meals to the children.
Yegele really enjoyed his food. (Follow that link to learn more about him! )
At the end of the day, I spent some time with new friends. This is Abraham, and he loved to hold on to me and follow me wherever I went.
Once Abraham left, I began to play with a little boy, Yohannis. (Or maybe this is Yabsira. I didn't catch his name, really...) He liked my sunglasses and wanted a photo of him with them on. :)
