I don’t think there is any one answer to this question; it may be different for everyone. But here are a few thoughts for the average American: when Christ said that, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God!…Humanly speaking, it is impossible, but with God everything is possible;” I think He had America on His mind (Mathew 19:16-26, New Living Translation). Considering that only twenty percent of world lives on seventy dollars a day, forty percent of the world lives on less then two dollars a day, and eight percent of the world owns a car, we can see that the average American is rich.
Why does Jesus say it is so hard for a rich person to enter heaven? I think it is because we depend on ourselves and our riches rather then depending on God. Why do I need God: if when I am sick, I can just go to the doctor or the (24 hour) pharmacy and get some medicine, if I am hungry I can make some food or stop by a (24 hour) fast food restaurant, if I don’t have money I can most likely get a job and at least make minimum wage, if when I am bored, depressed, or upset I can distract myself with TV, movies, video games, the internet, or shopping. Why do I need Jesus on a daily basis if all my needs and wants are being met?
I realize that my relationship with Christ should not be based on my needs being met. I am grateful and understand that Christ created me, died for my sins, and has given me grace and a future with Him. I serve Him because of who He is and not what he does for me, but is this enough to make me dependent on Him?
How do I depend on him?
Do I need to become poor? No, I am sure this is a great way for some people to truly depend on God, but that is too literal of a translation of the Bible for me, it is a little ridiculous…(Mathew 19:21-22).
Do I need to live on a budget and give away ALL the excess money to my church or an organization that helps the poor? No, that would be too extreme, besides God has blessed me with money and I need to provide for myself and my family and give some to Him, because that is what the Bible tells me to do…(Mathew 6:19-21 and Mark 12:41-44).
Do I need to give up comfortable life in American and go somewhere else to serve others? No, I have a great job, a house and I can’t leave my parents or extended family; Christ is not calling me to do that…(Matthew 4:21-22, 8:21-22 and 9:9)
Do I need to serve those in prison, those who are sick or travel to a dangerous place to be with others? No, Christ is there to protect me and keep me safe…wait Jesus died doing ministry…and if we are his disciples then…(Mathew 10:28 and 38-39).
It looks like, according to scripture, that disciples of Christ did leave their jobs and their families to follow Him and that it is more important to follow Christ then to tend to parents or extended family or have your own house to sleep in. The more I read and look at Jesus life, the more I see a poor, dangerous, homeless, and radical person; and the more I question whether I am a true disciple of Christ.
My intention is not to make us feel guilt or shame, but to encourage us to think and pray about how God is calling us to have an impact in His Kingdom. I have recently been praying, “Lord break my heart for the things that break your heart,” and then I pray, “Lord put me in the place where I can be most effective for your kingdom.” When I say these prayers, I believe that God will direct my life (through my desires, talents, weaknesses and dreams) into places that I can have an impact in His kingdom. I don’t care what happens to me on this earth, as long as I know I am making a difference in other peoples lives for eternity.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Dependence
Many of the students and staff here at Rohi have a deep and honest faith in Christ. You can see that they really love Him and depend on Him. God has radically changed their lives. Many have come from poor or rough backgrounds and now they are in school with all their needs being met. They thank God for this. They attribute this provision to God. Most students don’t question or doubt God because they see him moving and acting in their lives everyday. He is not distant and unknown; He is active and present in their lives.
This was most evident when I was meeting in a small group of 18-20 year old male students. I proposed a question that I ask many students in America. I asked, “Can you tell us about your relationship with God, what questions or doubts do you have about Him?” After a pause, a student named Samuel began to speak about all the ways in which he sees God. He began, “I ran away from home when I was a young boy because there were seven children in my family and my mom could not feed all of us. So as the oldest son, I felt that if I left than it would be one less mouth to feed. I left home to live on the streets in Nakuru, begging for food and sniffing glue. After three years on the streets, staff from Rohi found me. I joined the rehabilitation center for some time and then was sponsored to come to Rohi as a student.”
Samuel feels a deep sense of gratitude and the only person he can say thank you to, is God. God is the one who motivated the right people and made the necessary connections to allow Samuel to come and live at Rohi. Samuel understands this and all he can do is cry out to God with complete gratitude. This is the faith of most of the children and orphans we have met at Rohi. Their deep and strong faith in Christ is teaching Sarah and I how to see God and depend on Him more.
Samuel’s faith in God is different from many of the youth in America. Many college-aged students go through a period of doubting their faith and questioning how they were brought up in the church. I am not saying this is bad, just different. In America it is hard to see God. If something good happens we attribute it to our own efforts. In general, in America, we are more dependent on ourselves then on Christ. In many ways, although life is easier and more comfortable in America, it is more difficult to see Christ. Good and evil are masked by comfort and materialism.
After hearing many stories like Samuel's, I came to a point where I had to make a decision. Was it random chance or divine intervention that brought these students to where they are today? Just as so many students have chosen to believe that it was God who saved them, I too see that it was God who has given them a hope and future.
If you believe that it was random chance then you must ask yourself some questions. What was this feeling or burden that the Mathua family (who started Rohi) felt to help these children? Where did it come from? If you believe that they were just good people, I think you must look deeper. It is crazy, especially in a place like Kenya where there is more poverty and less opportunity for finding work that seven children would agree to give up their land and inheritance. And why would a family from the US give up their comfortable life to move to a new and uncomfortable place to help others? And what motivates the 350 families from the US to sponsor these students, pay their school fees, write them letters and come to meet them? What conviction or belief is strong enough to motivate someone to do this and where or with whom does that conviction begin?
I don’t believe that it is chance that motivates people to sacrifice their lives to love others. I do believe that it is the only response that Christians have to the sacrificial life that Jesus lived. It is our only way to say thank you to a God that died so that we could live free. Jesus’ example of living an uncomfortable and sacrificial life should drive us and compel us to live a life modeled after Him; a life that is not for ourselves, not for the fleeting pleasures of the world, but truly and honestly dedication to Him.
But how, in America, do we develop this kind of faith that motivates us to sacrifice our lives for others? Anyone who has been on a mission trip knows it is easy to see Christ and love others when you go abroad, but what happens when we come back to our comfortable and distracted lives in the US? Where does the passion and conviction go, how do we maintain it?
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| Samuel |
This was most evident when I was meeting in a small group of 18-20 year old male students. I proposed a question that I ask many students in America. I asked, “Can you tell us about your relationship with God, what questions or doubts do you have about Him?” After a pause, a student named Samuel began to speak about all the ways in which he sees God. He began, “I ran away from home when I was a young boy because there were seven children in my family and my mom could not feed all of us. So as the oldest son, I felt that if I left than it would be one less mouth to feed. I left home to live on the streets in Nakuru, begging for food and sniffing glue. After three years on the streets, staff from Rohi found me. I joined the rehabilitation center for some time and then was sponsored to come to Rohi as a student.” Samuel feels a deep sense of gratitude and the only person he can say thank you to, is God. God is the one who motivated the right people and made the necessary connections to allow Samuel to come and live at Rohi. Samuel understands this and all he can do is cry out to God with complete gratitude. This is the faith of most of the children and orphans we have met at Rohi. Their deep and strong faith in Christ is teaching Sarah and I how to see God and depend on Him more.
Samuel’s faith in God is different from many of the youth in America. Many college-aged students go through a period of doubting their faith and questioning how they were brought up in the church. I am not saying this is bad, just different. In America it is hard to see God. If something good happens we attribute it to our own efforts. In general, in America, we are more dependent on ourselves then on Christ. In many ways, although life is easier and more comfortable in America, it is more difficult to see Christ. Good and evil are masked by comfort and materialism.
After hearing many stories like Samuel's, I came to a point where I had to make a decision. Was it random chance or divine intervention that brought these students to where they are today? Just as so many students have chosen to believe that it was God who saved them, I too see that it was God who has given them a hope and future.
If you believe that it was random chance then you must ask yourself some questions. What was this feeling or burden that the Mathua family (who started Rohi) felt to help these children? Where did it come from? If you believe that they were just good people, I think you must look deeper. It is crazy, especially in a place like Kenya where there is more poverty and less opportunity for finding work that seven children would agree to give up their land and inheritance. And why would a family from the US give up their comfortable life to move to a new and uncomfortable place to help others? And what motivates the 350 families from the US to sponsor these students, pay their school fees, write them letters and come to meet them? What conviction or belief is strong enough to motivate someone to do this and where or with whom does that conviction begin?
I don’t believe that it is chance that motivates people to sacrifice their lives to love others. I do believe that it is the only response that Christians have to the sacrificial life that Jesus lived. It is our only way to say thank you to a God that died so that we could live free. Jesus’ example of living an uncomfortable and sacrificial life should drive us and compel us to live a life modeled after Him; a life that is not for ourselves, not for the fleeting pleasures of the world, but truly and honestly dedication to Him.
But how, in America, do we develop this kind of faith that motivates us to sacrifice our lives for others? Anyone who has been on a mission trip knows it is easy to see Christ and love others when you go abroad, but what happens when we come back to our comfortable and distracted lives in the US? Where does the passion and conviction go, how do we maintain it?
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Just an average day in Kenya
I want to tell you a story about a recent rodent encounter in our home. Well it began one night when Sarah frantically yelled, “Nate, its a rat, quick get it!!” I calmly replied, “Sarah you can’t just catch a rat with your hands, especially when you can’t see him, you have to get a rat trap.” Sarah did not like this answer because the rat was in the kitchen. We could not find it so I set the rat trap out that night. In the morning we did not catch a rat, but he had left plenty of evidence that he had enjoyed our food during the night. Sarah was bothered. I was content. Late in the day Sarah exclaimed, “Nate it’s the rat, I can hear him, he is still in here somewhere!” I look for him everywhere and don’t find him. I laugh at my bride and tell her she is paranoid as she had confessed that she dreamt the night before of rats invading our house. I reminded Sarah that you don’t just catch a rat with your hands; you have to use the trap.
On the second day, we still came up empty. Later that day Sarah was in the bedroom and calmly said, “Nate I know he is in here.” Of course, by this time, I thought Sarah is crazy and just hearing things. But like a good husband I went into the room to prove to her that there was not a rat in the room. So I looked behind the dresser and sure enough there was a cute little rat. Sarah ran out of the room and shut the door and said, “Don’t come out till you catch the rat!” She was not messing around. I knew at that moment that I must emerge with the rat; our marriage depended on it. I asked for a few items to catch Sarah’s nemesis, including a stick, trashcan, and a trash bag. The battle was on….. Me vs. the Rat. The battle ensued. Back and forth it went, I would scare him out from behind the dresser, then try and throw the trash can on him and miss, and then he would go back behind the dresser. All Sarah could hear from outside the room was a lot of banging, clanging and cursing. This dance continued for a good 15 minutes. But then there was a lull in the battle and I could not see or hear him any more. When Sarah heard the noise stop, she said, “ Did you get him?!” Now, out of breath, I say weakly,“ Uhhhh, no. I can’t find him.” After a few minutes of looking I found him….
After a few more minutes, I emerged the Victor. I trapped him in the trashcan and slipped him into the trash bag. I walked him outside and smashed his head with a rock. The sheep looked on with sad faces heads when he died. Sarah cheered, I was a bit saddened, and the rat was unresponsive.
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| R.I.P. |
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Where is Home?
Is it where I grew up? Is it the town where I went to school and Church? Is it where my friends and family are? Is it the place where I feel most comfortable and safe? Is it knowing myself and my purpose in the world? Is it just where I find myself at a particular place and time? Or is it where I can see and experience Christ the most; the place where I feel Him calling me to? Maybe home is all of these things.
But what about those people who have lost their parents; they have no family, church, or place where they can go and feel comfortable and safe. What about those people who are abused physically or sexually by those they trusted? Where is home for these people?
These are the questions that I have been asking myself the past few weeks. Sarah and I have been hearing the stories of students who have no family, no one to call mom or dad, no one to touch them and hold them, and no house to go to on the holidays. And some students who do live with families have been abused physically or taken advantage sexually. Most of these students have a deep and really faith in God. He is all they have to call home.
But what about those people who have lost their parents; they have no family, church, or place where they can go and feel comfortable and safe. What about those people who are abused physically or sexually by those they trusted? Where is home for these people?
These are the questions that I have been asking myself the past few weeks. Sarah and I have been hearing the stories of students who have no family, no one to call mom or dad, no one to touch them and hold them, and no house to go to on the holidays. And some students who do live with families have been abused physically or taken advantage sexually. Most of these students have a deep and really faith in God. He is all they have to call home.
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