Everyday Life....

in South Africa IS so full of contradictions. You see, we live in a place where, just 10 minutes from our base is a place called Casterbridge. Inside this little area, I can have breakfast, being served by a wonderful waiter named Vusi, at Magnolia's, shop in little boutique shops that carry the latest fashions, get a chocolate shot, and, should I choose, get a manicure, pedicure, and massage. Then I can leave this quaint little quiet place, drive 5 minutes, and come face to face with utter poverty.

I've seen poverty in the United States. I've seen children who come to school and haven't eaten anything since they left school the day before. I've seen children that wear hand me downs because it's all they have. I've seen these things first hand in the US. But here...

Here...this poverty slaps you in the face. Here...it screams at you to notice. Here....well here...it's different. Here, we see children who haven't eaten for days. Here, we meet children who have no idea who their fathers are or where their mothers are. Here, we meet children that get dropped off with an their Go-Go or their Auntie so that mom or dad can go find work. Go-Go or Auntie may already be raising other children and there are just not enough hands, not enough love, not enough food to go around. Here...we just can't help every single child, every single child led home, every single Go-Go or Ja-Ja we want to help However!

Here...here we see that showing love and building relationships with who you can help means that they will learn to pass it on. Just like yesterday. Yesterday, two of our workers came to base very upset. They needed to speak with Kacy RIGHT AWAY. Our workers, Sifiso and Lucky, who we have built great relationships with, saw a little boy walking home from school with NOTHING on but his school sweater...full of holes...and his trousers...with a tear all the way down his right butt cheek, so every single step he took, his little butt could be seen. Sifiso and Lucky knew that we could help! How did they know? Simply because we've helped them and we've loved them. Kacy wasn't there, but Brett was, and after text messages and phone calls, a plan was made!

The plan? To take a few clothes to this little one at school and try to find out his story. So! With a bag of clothes in hand, some of which Sifiso bought from his home, Brett, Sifiso, and Lucky headed to Masoi to find a little boy with his backside hanging out. They went to the school and were able to find him and, after speaking with the principle, they took the assistant and headed to where the little boy was staying. 

His story is one that is all too common here. His mother died and the little boy was left with his Go-Go. He doesn't know where Go-Go is, because she said she was going to a funeral and she left him with a man that she had been seeing. This man, God bless him, has been doing all that he can for the little boy, but he doesn't have much either. This child has fallen, as so many of Africa's orphans have, through the cracks. We will be trying, in the coming days, to try our very best to seal up that crack. We will try with every fiber of our being and every resource we can use, to help this child find a home. We will try!!

One more quick word about Sifiso and Lucky! When asked "why did you do this?" They answered with their hearts when they said "We are community development. This is what we do!"

So here...right here in this world of contradictions...we smile, we hug and kiss sweet children, we provide food and clothes, we build forever relationships, and we love with the Father's love!

Thoughts from Quiet Time

I'm currently reading the Old Testament, the book of Exodus. These are some thoughts that have "JUMPED" off the page. Feel free to comment about any questions you see!

Ex. 1:12-13 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. 

      The more we, as Christians, are oppressed, the more the Word will multiply and spread? Is being oppressed by people worth the cost to spread the love of Jesus? I can say YES! Can you?

Ex. 1:17 the midwives feared God. 

     What did they know about the God of the Israelites that they feared Him? 

      What stories had they heard the Israelites telling about God and how He cared for the Israelites?

Ex. 1:20 God blessed the midwives with their own families. 

      The midwives, it appears, had faith in the God of the Israelites. 

Ex. 2:3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 

      Moses' mother's name was Jochebed. Her name means Jehovah Glorified. What faith she must have had in  Jehovah to be able to trust that her baby would be taken care of! Could you have put your child in a basket, in the Nile? I've seen the Nile, been in a boat in the Nile and I can say for absolute certain...it would take a GREAT faith for me to put my child in a basket and put them in the water with the hippos and crocodiles! 

      Moses' sister must have had great courage to approach Pharaoh's daughter and ask permission to find someone to nurse the baby. 

      Jachebed nursed her own child and, according to vs 9, Pharaoh's daughter paid her to do it! So God provided for Jachebed!

Ex. 3:8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

      The promise to be brought out was a promise before they were brought out! It was a promise before Moses even took the job. God's promises are for us at the beginning, middle, and end of our problems. They are His promise to us whether we believe them or not. Let's choose to believe. 

Ex. 3:22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians. 

      If they wouldn't have asked, they wouldn't have received? God was also providing for the next generation. Notice it says they will put the silver, gold and clothes on their sons and daughters. These same sons and daughters are the ones who got to go into the promised land!!

Ex. 9:20 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of The Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. 

      Even in a pagan land, there were those that feared The Lord and listened to Moses. 

These are just some thoughts that The Lord brought out to me. I hope they spark some thoughts within you also! 

A teaser for the next blog....how would you react if you were invited to a Muslim home?