God Will Do the Work
God will do the work. He will get glory for Himself. But He invites us to participate in that. ~Paul Washer
One of the many things that amazes me on a regular basis about God is that He would choose to use me for anything. That God would use a broken, weak, feeble man such as myself to lead a family is one of the most mind-boggling, incredible, humbling realities that I could ever imagine. That He would send me and my family to another country to care for and disciple the fatherless is a privilege that I could never earn and could never fathom, or even desire apart from Him. In fact, faced with the reality of all my faults, the only reason I can even come up with that God would send us is so that it is crystal clear that only God could do this. So here we are, just a few short weeks away from leaving behind the only lives we have ever known, anxiously entering the great unknown. Soli Deo Gloria!
Our flights are booked! We leave November 29 and will arrive in Nairobi November 30. We then drive to Bungoma on December 1. God has also sent us help on this mission! Juliana Tovar, who we have known for 7+ years, has committed to a year to co-labor with us in this work in Kenya. We first met Juliana (or "Jill") when she was 11 years-old. She is the daughter of friends of ours that we first got to know in small group at the church we were serving in at the time. Jill has had a passion for missions for several years now and is very excited about this opportunity God has provided her to participate in the building of His Kingdom in this way.
For we who are believers, God invites us all to participate in the building of His Kingdom. Not that He needs our help, but out of His incredible grace He allows us the privilege to be a part. In light of our rebellion against Him, He would be just in crushing us to a thousand pieces! He would be just in casting us into the lake of fire. To be accepted into His Kingdom as a mere servant, in service to the King for an eternity would be far better than we deserve. To be allowed entrance to the Kingdom and then left to fend for ourselves is far better than we deserve. But what He has done for us goes way beyond that. He has adopted us as sons and daughters (Galatians 4:5). The Holy Spirit makes us children of God! (Romans 8:16) What an incredible truth! A truth that we get to ponder and meditate on and explore and experience for eternity!
In a few short weeks, we leave for Kenya, sent by the grace of God as ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) to the needy and the orphaned and the widowed. I can think of no better way to spend what remaining moments I have in this life. God will do the work. He will get glory for himself. But I am ever so thankful that He is allowing us to be part of that work.