Clinging to God

May 30, 2012

Where to begin… my first day back in Africa was AMAZING!  To get up to the sight of such a beautiful creation is incredible!  I so quickly forget the amazing artist I serve, and to see His masterpiece with fresh eyes is such a blessing!

When we arrived at the Victory Christian Center for our first day (the school the kids attend), the older kids welcomed our bus with smiles, laughter and songs.  They were so excited to see us and just wanted to be near us.  They clung to our legs, arms, t-shirts and anything else they could bra as “their” territory.  After hugs and broken introductions, Tom took us around to each class to introduce us.  I find it so humorous that my name is so easy for them to pronounce as it fits neatly into their accents! 

The classrooms were much like in Nepal- overcrowded with old desks, a small chalkboard in the front and many eager faces waiting to soak up the shared information with a few faces painted with dread sprinkled in!  When we walked in, though, their attention was riveted by this strange group of Americans invading their space!

We spent today doing VBS split between 2 classes.  While I would lead worship with Zach in one class, Elise and Angie would teach the Bible story in the other.  Gerald and Pastor David floated between the two groups.  I wish I could have seen Elise teach because I hear it was phenomenal!  She taught the creation story, complete with hand drawn pictures of each day of creation on poster board to keep the kids engaged! 

We sang several songs with the kids- most of which they knew already!  Zach had one of the classes beat-boxing with the songs which brought that coveted African heartbeat to the strong rhythms of their voices!  Some of our most enthusiastic singers were the 4^th grade boys, a couple of whom would express their excitement when singing with wild gesturing of their arms, as if they were in the finale of some great and majestic musical, which in many ways we are!  I loved worshiping with the kids and seeing them pour their hearts and vocal cords out before our God!

What struck me the most today was our first encounter with the kids- the clinging as if when they let go, they will cease to exist.  What if I lived my life like that in terms of God?!  Can you even imagine the headway that we could make in the kingdom if we truly clung to God, desperate for a tender look from His eyes and a smile to renew our sense of worth and belonging?  If these orphans can cling to complete strangers with banana colored skin and tired eyes, why DON’T I cling to a known and loved God who chose to love me and chase me before I was ever His?!  What has stopped me?  I want to be so desperate for God’s love and attention that I beg to grab ahold of His hand every moment of every day- fighting myself for that place of love and honor!  Because that’s what I realized- I have to fight myself, in my pride and arrogance, I assume I can do it and God’s too busy for me.  But in actuality, He’s waiting, just waiting with an open hand to walk with me through the muddy streets of the slums of life, bringing hope and light everywhere we go!  And that’s my prayer for these AMAZING Kenyan orphans- that they would know how DEEP God’s love is for them- how he so desperately wants to take hold of them and gently kiss away the tears of pain and betrayal and bring them to their place of royalty in His kingdom!