A Heart of Gold

A few days ago we drove all the way out into Maasai territory. The drive alone was something spectacular. To see the vast, rolling green hills wrapped in a perfect blue sky was nothing less than breathtaking. The sky was filled with cotton-ball clouds as far as the eye could see. Lifting your eyes from the land to the heavens was like taking in a giant painting with flawless brush strokes. There's a saying that the Lord spends His days painting the sky for His children. Here in Kenya, it's absolutely true. We finally arrived at our destination about an hour or so away "up country" and once again it was like entering a alien world. Living in the states all my life I rarely see certain scenes: carts pulled by donkeys, men shepherding herds of cow, sheep, or goats along the open road, elderly women carrying bundles of sticks and twigs too heavy for a normal man to lift over miles of distance, or almost running into a giant bull in the middle of the road to name just a "few". Yet another reminder that I'm not in Kansas anymore : / . We arrive at the plot of land that Pastor Robbie's ministry owns and he begins to survey the land. We began preparations for building a chicken coop out there for the Maasai women they minister too. Much of these preparations must be accomplished quickly as our schedule is ever changing. After measuring off certain areas and doing some scratch-work math in our heads concerning amount of chicken wire and wood planks we would need we headed back the way we came. I was going to be teaching the study at U-Turn that day and having been on the road nearly all day I did not feel completely prepared. Though I had spent a week working on the sermon, I tend to always feel a level of nervousness right before an oral "presentation," especially if that day wasn't spent reading or praying in preparation.

Robbie dropped us off a few hours before the study was scheduled to take place so Nathan and I spent some time with our new friend Obadiah. Obadiah went through the U-Turn for Christ program himself and since then has led a clean and sober life. He is apart of the leadership now and is a personal encouragement to Nathan and I. The intense love and adoration of His Savior is like nothing I have seen in the longest time. Almost everything he says is form of praise to the Lord, or personal gratitude and encouragement to us for coming all the way from the states to minister to men like him. Many times during my personal talks with him I have left inspired and moved by--not only his, but many Kenyan's passion and zeal for the Lord. Many of them were born and still live in the lowest of the low conditions, yet are happier and my joyful than most Americans I know. It blows me away! At one point Obadiah was excited to show us his "apartment" attached to the men's barracks, which in actuality was a sheet-metal attachment to a shack. It was no larger than 12 by 8 feet (his entire apartment) yet he himself was overly ecstatic to have us sit on his bed and merely fellowship with him. And as I sat there on his itchy bed, looking around the thin metallic walls, at spider web in the upper left corner, the musty clothes he was hang-drying in the walkway to his bed, the picture of his nephew nestled in-between two calendars that seemed to be picked up from the ground, and his few pairs of shoes set neatly before his mattress, and then I looked over to him as he sat there laughing with Nathan. His smile was so genuine. His laugh so deep. He spirit so joyous. I looked hard and earnestly, and realized that he--possessing so little--had more life in him than countless others I had met back at home. Obadiah just seemed to emanate a peace and thankfulness that I as an American could not even hold a flickering light to. It was a that point I really saw how spoiled I was. I saw how much I take for granted. I saw how little I am thankful for. I looked deep into my heart and realized that living in his conditions I could never see myself (as a proud U.S. citizen) living in those conditions, and yet here he was, was content--No, more than that--he was happy. I need that. I need that "thankfulness in all things" as the Bible tells us, and it was beyond words to see it so alive in Obadiah. I taught that night and the Spirit moved. The Lord blessed me with a powerful sermon that left many to come and thank me. I shook their hands like many do after teaching a sermon awkwardly knowing that I had nothing to do with that study, and that if not for the Lord it would have been a train-wreck. Many people approached me to tell me how encouraged and moved they were to have Nathan and I minister to them, but as Obadiah approached me from the rear of the men I knew in my heart that I was learning much more from them then they could ever know. That it is their example to me that was far more valuable than a simple "good" or "powerful" or "moving" sermon. I shook their hand genuinely thanking them in my heart. And once Obadiah made it to me, I embraced him in a deep hug. The Lord is showing me so much more than the stadium seating, spotlight stage and podium-performance ministry that I have seen all my life in the states. And I couldn't be more thankful. Praise our Lord Jesus Christ.