The Bread of Life

*This blog is prefaced with an apology for the delay with thanks for your continued prayers and support!*

Every time I put my pen to the paper I am always so humbled.  How can I, a simple finite man, attempt to describe the infinite awesomeness of God?  How can I put on paper things that are just too wonderful for me to understand?  Is it even possible to accurately paint a picture of what God is doing amongst my people?  To tell it in any detail would take the work of a small book and not one of this short blog.  I do hope to write a book someday that captures all of my adventures here. I think a fitting title would be From the Bathroom Stall to the Bush.  It would be my testimony of how God’s redeeming love took hold of a hopeless and defeated junky and made him a minister of reconciliation with a message of hope for the unreached.  But that is for another time.  This a different story that is about that same love and hope, but it instead of starting in a bathroom stall it starts with the Bread of Life…

Last year’s rainy season was one of the worst in many years. No rain means there are no crops, which in turn, means that there is no food.  This is a concept that we, as Americans, know little to nothing about.   Rain in Africa means life, and when it doesn’t come, it results in hunger and some cases, death.  This was a struggle for me to grasp and understand, and even caused me to be a little upset with God. Why would He allow this to happen?  How can I do anything to help?  I am just one man and I have very little to give.  As things began to unfold, I was soon able to see that God had a plan and a purpose that wasn’t about me but about Him.

The food shortage in our village was assessed and we found that the need was great.  I couldn’t walk anywhere without people telling us that they were hungry and asking us for food.  I was overcome with joy when I heard that help would come and that it would come in a way that could only happen by the hand of God.  After overcoming many obstacles and setbacks, we  finally got the call to head to the village. The food and the team were on their way.

Now lets keep in mind that this is Africa.; nothing happens the way that you want it to, and any plans you can make seem to blow away like the wind.  I have learned to plan on five days if you are told it takes one, and to never believe what you may hear on the phone.  Half of the food that I was told was “on its way” was actually outside of my village stuck in the sand, while the other half was on a broken down truck over ten hours away.  Oh Africa, how I love you.  Let the fun begin!

If I explained this adventure day by day, this blog would be a mile long, so I’ll do my best to share the highlights.  It was so sweet to have the team in our village for the first time.  I was very blessed by it and so were my people.  I have never seen the villagers more joyful.  Everyone from the entire village came out to greet the team with music, dancing and singing.  I was so proud.  I had never seen them so open and receptive.  They walked the trucks into the village and then we spent some time dancing and celebrating.  I had never seen my people like this before, and I often found myself holding back tears of joy.

God was definitely on the move and He was taking our team right along with Him.  Stories about Jesus were being told everywhere.  Men and women, young and old, were getting the taste of Truth for the first time.  We were even able to tell a story in the presence of the chief and the elders.  The Word was going out, sometimes falling on soft hearts, and other times causing opposition.  I had moments when I would just sit back to take it all in and watch the battle take place for these lost souls.  Love, Light, and Truth were warring against hard, dark deception.  It was beautiful to watch the Kingdom of God advancing.  The darkness could not stand in the face of the Light!

Many people seemed to be seeking and some even said they believed.  Some began to ask themselves which is true - the way that they have always believed?  Or these new things they were hearing?  One man’s experience really touched my heart.  Old Man Ebo had been on death’s door just a couple of months ago.  We had given him some recordings about Jesus to listen to and he really liked them. But now he was hearing these stories being told by His believers and it was different.  Ebo couldn’t get enough Jesus.  Something changed in Ebo.  He had a light in his eyes and a life about him I had never seen before.  Right after the team left he came up to me and said something I didn’t understand.  I had never heard it before.  My friend explained to me that he was asking me if he could pray for me.  What?!  That just simply does not happen here, my people do not do that!  What was really going on?  I accepted his offer and Ebo laid his arthritis-mangled hands on me and began to pray.  The word I made out more than any other word during that prayer was “Jesus.”  Ebo prayed for me in Jesus’ name.

The food distribution went well once all of the food arrived...  four days late.  People received enough food to allow them to eat healthy for about 2 months. We distributed 30,000 kilos of millet, 15,000 kilos of corn, and 7,500 kilos of peanuts.  As a result, the leaders of the village were so very thankful and shared many encouraging words with us. The chief told us that we were now truly a part of their village, like fathers to their children, and then they paid us the highest compliment that you can in this African culture; they called us men of peace.

Looking back now, I can see what God was doing and why.  If these people were never allowed to be this physically hungry, they never would have been spiritually fed.  Because of the physical need of the people, there resulted an open door to share the Gospel and for truth to begin to enter into their hearts. They were able to taste the Bread of Life for the first time.