Here’s a few pictures from our Celebration outreach team visit to Isaiah’s Umuzi Wothando (Isaiah’s Home of Love). This is an incredible place for abandoned babies in Bulawayo. We have made this a regular part of our outreach team activities to simply go and serve these kids. Laundry, cooking, feeding and gardening are all things we can help with as well as to just love on these kids. We also try to bring along a few groceries that are always welcome.  The children are just happy to see our group coming and I always leave here feeling so blessed just to have the opportunity to see a smile from these precious little ones. Stepping outside of our 4 walls, serving those who can do nothing for us in return, that’s what life is all about. They are after all…our future.  Thank you Jesus for the incredible people from our outreach team who willingly give of their time, talent and treasure to serve the children.  

Luke 18:15-16
 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these
NIV

Here are some pics of some of our sewing project ladies putting their skills to work making Valentines bears to sell for the recent holiday. I wasn’t even sure they celebrated this holiday here but Valentines Day is alive and well in Zimbabwe. All these ladies were trained as a result of the sewing machine project sponsored by our SHINE ladies from Celebration Church, Jacksonville. Not only did they gain skills to produce clothing on the sewing machines but they also learned to sew “by hand” as you can see here. Thanks you SHINE ladies for helping to empower the women of Zimbabwe.

1 Thess 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Random thoughts on prayer today. So why do we pray? We pray to connect to something beyond ourselves and beyond our human limitations. We pray because we know what it is to be in a foxhole, or face-to-face with terror or too close to tragedy. We pray because we have known heartbreak, grief, failure, and pain. We pray because when we are up against a wall we reach out to God because we somehow know He is there. Prayer gives us “breathing space”. There is no end to how fruitful and productive we can be when we have breathing space. Jesus knew this. That is why he so frequently went off by himself to pray.

Bill Hybels says that “prayer flies in the face of our American culture and work ethic”. We have learned to be strong, independent, and self-sufficient. Turning to God in prayer seems like an assault on the idea that we should pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make our own success.

Prayer allows God’s power to be unleashed in our lives. We have to continue in a posture of prayer for God’s power to continue to be at work in our lives. God is willing and able to answer our prayers. God wants us to pray without ceasing and then wait and watch for him to give us more abundantly than all we could ever ask or pray.

It REALLY works. Why not give it a try today?

OK  So better late than never. We recently had our late Christmas parties for the kids. Since they were all on break during December into January we opted to wait til they were all back in school.  I don’t think they really cared one bit. Tons of games and fun for all the kids and lots of learning about Jesus along the way. And of course there was the food. We slaughtered a cow for the event (if you have never seen this done “African style” consider yourself lucky!!)  and everyone went away well fed. I am so overly blessed to see Jesus shine through these children as we minister to them.  This is what it’s all about!!!

2009 is in the history books. 2010 is a mystery but I know it’s gonna be the best year ever. There’s no better way to start the year than with 21 days of prayer and fasting  www.awake21.org

 Here’s my prayer for 2010….Lord Jesus help me to forget about me, its not about me but about bringing glory to your name. It’s about the lost, the hurting, the downtrodden, the abused, the discouraged, the victimized, the hungry, the lonely and the orphan. Its about all of Gods precious people that the enemy has tried to destroy. Let me see people through your eyes, that I could see their hearts rather than their outward appearance. Give me a passion for transformed lives, relationships, communities and nations. Let Your Word come out of my mouth at all times, never limiting you and speaking life into every situation you place before me.  

 Phil 4:8-9

 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Here are some signs that you won’t find anywhere else in the world
except in AFRICA. I have seen a few of these. This list is from a friend in Uganda.

In a restaurant in Zambia:
“Open seven days a week and weekends.”

On the grounds of a private school in South Africa:
“No trespassing without permission.”

On a window of a Nigerian shop:
“Why go elsewhere to be cheated when you can come here?.”

On a poster in Ghana:
“Are you an adult who cannot read? If so, we can help.”

In a hotel in Mozambique:
“Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of
9.00 am and 11.00am daily.”

On a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
“Take note: When this sign is submerged, the river is impassable.”

In a Zimbabwean restaurant:
“Customers who find our waitresses rude ought to see the manager.”

A sign seen on a hand dryer in a Lesotho public toilet:
“Risk of electric shock-Do not activate with wet hands.”

In a Botswana jewellery shop:
“Ears pierced while you wait.”

On one of the buildings of a Sierra Leone hospital:
“Mental Health Prevention Centre.”

In a maternity ward of a clinic in Tanzania:
“No children allowed!”

In a cemetery in Uganda:
“Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves.

In a Malawi hotel:
“It is forbidden to steal towels please. If you are not a person to do
such a thing, please don’t read this notice.”

A sign posted in an Algerian tourist camping park:
“It is strictly forbidden on our camping site that people of different
sex, for instance a man and woman, live together in one tent unless
they are married to each other for that purpose.”

In a Namibian nightclub:
“Ladies are not allowed to have children in the bar.”

And the prize goes to…

On the walls of a ‘butchery’ (a shack with a bloodshot, sweaty, short
Kikuyu with an axe) in Kawangware, SW of Nairobi, Kenya.

“We sell all meats…….goat meat, sheep meat, fish meat, chicken meat, beef
meat….”

I was so blessed to be able to attend Joyce Meyer Festival of Life event in Blantyre, Malawi this past weekend. Israel Houghton and New Breed brought it for worship, and of course Joyce was on target with a timely word for the people. Rained every day but this was not enough to keep hungry people from coming to worship God.  Heres a few pics from an incredible event.

I got to spend some time in Tsholotsho (show-loat-show) this past week, just hanging out with the kids for a bit while doing some spot checks on our feeding programs here. Also stopped to check on some gardening projects here, where we are teaching locals to grow their own food. The mainstay of these gardens is a special type of sweet potato developed especially for this program at the University of Zimbabwe. We call it the “born again” sweet potato. It is especially suited for the unique growing conditions in this part of Zimbabwe as Tsholotsho is at the eastern tip of the Khalahari Desert Basin. It’s always exciting to see this kind of empowerment in action.

This really turned out to be Tsholotsho focus week as we also sent a team from Bulawayo for 3 nights of worship and outreach to the villages in the area and on Sunday I led a team of our pastors to preach at some of the locations here. We have been blessed to plant 8 churches in Tsholotsho and the goal was to build up and strengthen these locations and help them to continue spreading the love of Jesus. God showed up at these meetings, we had some incredible ministry time with 750+ showing up to hear the Good News!! Lots of lives transformed, demons cast out and a new beginning in life for so many that gave their lives to Jesus. It’s always exciting to see the power of the Gospel in action.

 Mark 16:15

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

I just cannot think of anything else I would rather do with my life. Thank you Jesus for the incredible people I get to do life with here in Africa.

15,000 people in Africa will die today, another 15,000 tomorrow and 15,000 more each and every day after that. Think about that for just a minute if you dare. Now add to your thought process another fact. Every single one of them are dying of preventable, treatable diseases – AIDS, malaria and TB due to a lack of drugs that you and I take for granted.  If you have a pulse, that should tug hard on your heartstrings. Here is what has been said about this:

“This statistic alone makes a fool of the idea many of us hold on to very tightly: the idea of equality. What is happening to Africa mocks our pieties, doubts our concern and questions our commitment to the whole concept. Because if we’re honest, there’s no way we could conclude that such mass death day after day would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else. Certainly not North America or Europe, or Japan. An entire continent bursting into flames? Deep down, if we really accept that their lives – African lives – are equal to ours, we would all be doing more to put the fire out. It’s an uncomfortable truth”

I found it interesting that the author of the above statement is not a great church leader or statesman or diplomat. It’s the thoughts of a rock star by the name of Bono as he tries to answer the question “who is my neighbor?”

That’s a question I’ve been wrestling with lately. Here are some of my thoughts. Poverty is a complex “web” that has a whole lot of causes and even more effects, way more than I have even thought of I’m sure.  I often wonder what my life would be or would have been had I been born in another latitude and longitude, where there weren’t quite as many choices.  I have surely done a lot of stupid things but the opportunities available were always there. Not so many opportunities exist elsewhere. Things that we take for granted, clean water, access to food and medical care, education are just not enjoyed by most of the rest of the world.

I’m thinking one of the biggest reasons for a “lack of action” is that we tend to depersonalize the statistics. Every one of those 15,000 people, men , women and children have a name, have a face and was created by God for a purpose. I of course spent most of my life in the West and I can remember my own thoughts as I read or heard such a “statistic”.  You look at the number, maybe read the whole story and most all of us will have a moment of genuine compassion, maybe even send a check to help. But it’s only a moment, it doesn’t last. Then we turn the page (or channel) to look at the sports news, financials, sales ads, etc. We go to the mall, go to the grocery store, go on our cruises and getaway vacations and live in our homes with clean water and central heat and air. I’m not bashing America and the west. Our nation was founded on Godly principles by God fearing men and I believe that’s why we are the most prosperous nation in the world. (its also a testimony to God’s grace and long suffering that we still hold that place)  I make no apologies for Americas’ prosperity, it’s still the greatest nation in the world to live.

However, as a radically changed follower of Jesus (I have learned to not use the “Christian” label, it means a whole lot of things to a whole lot of people all over the world!!)  I believe that the Bible says over and over again that we are to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves, to give to others who do not have as much as we have, to give out of our abundance.  I asked God a few years ago to break my heart for what breaks His, that I would go wherever He sent me to be His hands and feet. So here I am in Africa and the numbers are no longer impersonal. I know the names of the children I have held in my arms as they take their last breath, the name of the mother dying of AIDS related illnesses who has 5 small children she is leaving behind to fend for themselves, in a world that terrorizes and victimizes the smallest and weakest. These kids can be subject to the most hideous cruelty and abuse you can imagine, many times by extended family members who are supposed to love them.  I have found a place to stay for the 9 year old girl who came to a service and met Jesus, and no longer wants to be peddled off to her grandmothers men friends so she can “earn her keep”

These are but a few of the horror stories but I also get to see the hope, the success stories. Through our church plants here in Zimbabwe and in partnership with other organizations, we get to feed over 18000 children every day. More importantly we can show them that they are loved, that they have value in the eyes of their Creator. I get to see the hopelessness of a child nearly starving to death turn into a smile and beaming eyes of a child that now has hope for another day. To see a mother who we have been able to teach a skill and provide the resources for her to begin making a living for her family.  There is always hope in the middle of hopelessness.  Hopes name is Jesus!!!!  The pics are just a snapshot of some of the faces that go with the statistics. These are all people that have touched my life and my heart. Take a look and ask yourself….Who is my neighbor?

Yesterday was graduation day for our second class to complete  6 months of  intensive training for sewing. These ladies (and 1 gentleman!!) were all awarded completion diplomas in a special ceremony at all 4 of our city services yesterday and treated to lunch in the afternoon. The outfits you see them wearing in the pics were all made by the graduates as part of their training. This is an incredible project which began with an idea from Pastor Chipo along with some other Celebration ladies that we could permanently impact lives by teaching a skill that could be used in the marketplace. Through the efforts of Pastor Kerri and our SHINE ladies at the conference in 2008 we were able to purchase a number of industrial grade sewing machines as well as fund the instructor and materials for the first graduating class. With help from another generous donor we were able to fund the second round of  graduates you see in the pictures. Its just amazing to see the pride and joy instilled in these people in learning a skill that can help them to support themselves and their families. We have already been able to bless some children with school uniforms and we  pray the economic climate here will continue to improve and that we will eventually obtain contracts to  turn this into not only a self supporting venture but a profit center as well.