I now look at my toilet and see that it flushes every time and I smile. No more trips down the stairs of the Silver Bells Hotel in Isiolo to get a bucket of water to fill my toilet. I go to my kitchen and pull out a cold drink whenever I want to. Biridi is the Swahili word for cold. It is widely misused in terms of beverages there or perhaps their idea of coldness is misconceived. Nevertheless a truly biridi drink is hard to come by. I walk outside and sit in my cushioned yard recliner and look at the vibrant green of my bi-weekly watered lawn. I think about the cool Kenyan breeze that brought with it enough dust to cause a constant flow of snot to be expelled from my nose on a minute by minute basis. The dust, abnormally bad this year because of the severe drought that has plagued this part of Kenya. The dryness, a catalyst for starvation as crops fail to flourish. Families resort to burning among other things the breathtaking Acacia trees that cover the land. This burning produced charcoal that they can sell every few days at the market to hopefully raise enough money to buy food. Eating is a luxury here. Most of the people we visited eat once every two days if they are blessed. So as you can guess it was hard to complain about missing lunch on the days we were out sharing the gospel of Christ with people. As hunger welled up in my stomach all I could think about was that these people’s hunger is a hundred times worse than mine. Even the pastors (from various Baptist churches around Kenya) that went from hut to hut with us didn’t have food to eat. After spending two weeks among these skinny tribal people I am more than ever before disturbed at the "civilized" world’s decadence. So many people in their world are starving and so many in mine are overeating. I saw this poverty and I have a hard time knowing how to feel or how to wrap my mind around what I saw. I don’t know why I was chosen by God to grow up in the US and have the things I do. What I do know is that God has a plan. He created each one of us for a specific time, place, and purpose. He tells us this in Acts 17:26-28 when He says,

"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."

So perhaps God allows poverty to give people an opportunity to find him and rely on Him for survival.  In actuality, we all do.

So as God opened my eyes to all of this,  I understood that in my own power there is no way that I could ever meet all of these people's many needs. I also realized that God was showing me the best way to help these people was by telling them about the one true God that promises to meet all the needs of His children according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (see Philippians 4:19)  Telling these people the truth about God and that they can be free from the bondage of sin in their lives, that they too can have hope of a better life in heaven and joy on this earth, this is helping them have better lives. God is the source of all knowledge and wisdom, and He will help them to understand how to prosper. He will give them the desire to work and learn. He will teach them what is best for their lives. Showing them this freedom and helping them understand it is what Jesus was talking about in the Great Commission when he said:

18 … "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28: 18-19

God never promises that our lives will be trouble and pain free.  But He does give us hope of something better and joy in the midst of it all.  He promises to always be with us and to take care of us.   That is the good news.  If you believe, you have peace knowing that everything will eventually be ok.  I feel privileged that God allowed me to tell these people such awesome news and I am also honored to be a part of his work in Kenya.   I thank all of the many people that supported me both financially and in prayer. Thank you for blessing me and the people of Kenya, and for being such a wonderful family. Bwona Asi Fiwe! (Praise the Lord!)

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:17b-21)