MONDAY, APRIL 2, 2007
Mark's 11:15-19
Fact: Every 14 seconds another African child is orphaned because of AIDS.
Thought: Although in the House of God, the religious leaders' didn't share God's heart for the brokenness of the world.
Devotion:
I believe I know what the most dangerous prayer a Christian can pray is. I prayed this prayer in February of 2006, just prior to a trip to Africa . "God, let my heart break with the things that break your heart"* When I arrived in Africa , God answered that prayer through the frightened eyes of a young girl named Anna.
Anna lives in the slum of Misisi in Lusaka , the capital of Zambia . An open garbage dump at the entrance to the slum betrays the hopelessness of those trapped in the grip of the poverty, disease, and suffering of Misisi. As one ventures into the slum one experiences how the smell of raw sewage permeates the air. Sickness runs rampant throughout this large slum. Not only are lives ravaged by HIV/AIDS, but a Cholera outbreak in January, 2006 took the lives of many. As the outbreak spread, the government quarantined Misisi, allowing no one but government health workers to enter. When someone died the health workers would enter the home that very day, place the body in a plastic bag, and take the body for immediate burial. The distraught family members were offered no opportunity for proper grief.
In the midst of this slum stands a church building bearing witness to the presence of the Kingdom of God . Clergy wives have chosen this place to serve as a life-saving station for 350 orphans they have identified. Their vision for Misisi is bold. Yet their resources had only allowed them to begin feeding about a third of their children one meal a week.
It was in this place that God answered my prayer. Anna is one of the children who was being fed once a week at Misisi. When I met this 11 year old girl I was immediately reminded of my own daughter. Anna was 11, my Hannah was then 10. That is as far as the similarities went. Anna began to describe life as an orphan. She has 3 younger siblings. They live with her aunt. Anna described her embarrassment at not having shoes to wear or a decent dress to put on. Indeed, her frayed and filthy red dress was constantly slipping down her shoulders forcing her to pull it back up. I then asked this gaunt young girl how many meals a day she ate. She told me that supper was the only meal she ate. She qualified that by telling me that on the days her aunt couldn't find work that she wouldn't receive anything to eat.
Rarely a day goes by that I don't think about Anna. I have wrestled with the pain I would feel if my Hannah had only rags to wear and frequently went hungry. I have been reminded that I am responsible not simply for Hannah, but also for children like Anna who have no dad to whom to look.
ZOE Ministry has begun caring for Anna and the other children in the Chifundo Orphans Project in Misisi. Two meals are provided daily at this church and I carry a picture of Anna in her new dress in my Bible. Yet today there will be 6,000 more "Annas." God heart continues to break for those children suffering without any care. Our hearts need to also break. I challenge you to pause right now and pray the dangerous prayer I prayed before my last trip to Africa . Ask that God will cause your heart to break with those things that break His heart. That is a prayer that God will certainly answer.
*This is the prayer that Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, used to pray.
Daily Prayer points:
• That God would allow our hearts to break for the orphans left in the wake of the AIDS pandemic in Africa .
• Continued growth in our efforts to feed, clothe, educate, and offer medical care for orphans and vulnerable children.
• That children will come to faith in Christ through the efforts of ZOE Ministry .
• For our Empowerment ministry being launched in Kenya and Zambia this year. The "Giving Hope" methodology focuses on equipping children to learn how to provide for themselves so as to break the cycle of dependency.
• That God would raise up major donors who can help move ZOE Ministry to significantly expand our care for orphans and vulnerable children.
TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2007
Fact: The AIDS pandemic has been called the greatest humanitarian crisis the world has ever faced. It is happening on our watch. We are the body of Christ. We have a responsibility.
Luke 16:19-31
Thought: The rich man is not described as an immoral person. He was simply indifferent to the suffering of the world. His indifference separated him from Christ.
During my first visit to Zimbabwe I met with Bishop Christopher Jokoma. As he described the suffering of his people he told the story of a young woman who had resorted to prostitution. He said, "I asked her, 'why would you do this to yourself, sister? Why would you degrade yourself so? Why would you become a prostitute?' She responded, 'My husband is dead, I have no skills, I have children I have to feed and put into school. Better to die of AIDS than to die of starvation.'"
The bishop said, "I didn't know how to respond to her." He then looked at the three Americans sitting on his couch and asked us, "What would you have said to her?"
We sat there in awkward silence. We didn't know what to say. What would you have said?
It was after returning to the states that it finally became clear what we should have said. The truth is that the answer is really quite simple. The answer is, "Sister, we will feed your children. You won't have to live that way anymore. The people of Jesus will help you take care of your children."
The answer really is quite simple. It's as simple as giving Lazarus a piece of bread.
Daily Prayer points:
• That God would allow our hearts to break for the orphans left in the wake of the AIDS pandemic in Africa .
• Continued growth in our efforts to feed, clothe, educate, and offer medical care for orphans and vulnerable children.
• That children will come to faith in Christ through the efforts of ZOE Ministry .
• For our Empowerment ministry being launched in Kenya and Zambia this year. The "Giving Hope" methodology focuses on equipping children to learn how to provide for themselves so as to break the cycle of dependency.
• That God would raise up major donors who can help move ZOE Ministry to significantly expand our care for orphans and vulnerable children.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2007
Fact: The Headmaster at Matututu Primary School in Zimbabwe once told me that, "We have to update our list of orphans on a weekly basis." It's common to learn that at least 25% of the children in the schools in which we ministry have lost at least one parent to AIDS. In one school 70% of the children have lost a parent. Think about that the next time you pass a school yard full of children.
Matthew 25:31-46
Thought: This is the only picture that Jesus gives us of the final judgment. Interestingly, it's not a quiz on our orthodoxy. The final judgment is based upon how we responded to the "least of these." In no way does this conflict with the message that salvation comes through faith in Christ, not works. What it demonstrates is that the way we live reveals whether or not we truly had faith in Christ. It's what we say with our lives, not our lips, that truly reveals whether or not we truly follow Jesus.
Devotion:
In my trips to Zimbabwe I have met a number of children who have been orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. The most heart-wrenching of these encounters occurred during our May 2004 trip. While visiting the UM Mission in Mutambara we met two young boys surviving in a child headed family. This family of four was headed by a sixteen year old girl named Smolene. We visited their home . While there we learned their tragic story. Their parents both died in April of 2003 leaving Smolene as a 15 year old girl at the head of their home. The land they live on is rocky and unfit for cultivation. As Smolene sought to care for her brothers she would work in nearby fields to raise money to keep them in school. To survive they were receiving food from a relief agency. She told us that the relief agency was no longer active in the area. She then took us in her home, showed us the amount of food they had left and stated, "This is all the food we have. It's enough to last us until Saturday, after that we'll just die."
Our hearts were broken. We were gripped by the awful reality that theirs was not an isolated story in southern Africa . It is the story of much of a continent.
Smolene and her brothers are among the thousands of children now receiving care from ZOE Ministry . Not only are the children being fed by ZOE Ministry , but each of them are receiving an education.
Most importantly, through ZOE they have experienced the grace of Jesus Christ. Upon a subsequent visit to their home I noticed that Smolene had painted the outside of her hut. She had painted pictures of flowers in full bloom, blossoming with life and hope. Interspersed among these flowers she had written four words in Shona, "Katenda kusina mabasa kwakafa." These words come from James 2:17, "Faith without works is dead." Why did this so touch her heart that she painted it on her home? I believe it's because she understands that Christians in America put their faith into action her and it changed her life over there.
Daily Prayer points:
• That God would allow our hearts to break for the orphans left in the wake of the AIDS pandemic in Africa .
• Continued growth in our efforts to feed, clothe, educate, and offer medical care for orphans and vulnerable children.
• That children will come to faith in Christ through the efforts of ZOE Ministry .
• For our Empowerment ministry being launched in Kenya and Zambia this year. The "Giving Hope" methodology focuses on equipping children to learn how to provide for themselves so as to break the cycle of dependency.
• That God would raise up major donors who can help move ZOE Ministry to significantly expand our care for orphans and vulnerable children.
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2007
Fact: 8,219 people will die because of AIDS today. Most of them are in Africa .
John 15:1-17
Thought: If we abide in God we are promised that our lives will bear fruit. In fact, we are told that we will bear much fruit and that this fruit will be lasting fruit. It excites me to think that if we are faithful today our lives could still be bearing fruit decades or even centuries after we have gone home to be with Jesus.
Devotion:
Through implementing the unique "Giving Hope Methodology", we will impact the lives of orphans' families for generations to come. This innovative model was initially implemented by Epiphanie Mujawimana of the "YWCA" of Gitarama , Rwanda with support from Church World Services. It has now spread to at least four other countries on the continent of Africa .
Based on principles of empowerment rather than relief, this model equips orphaned youth to provide for themselves. In addition to receiving training in vocational and income generating skills, group activities promote other basic lifestyle issues such as hygiene, food cultivation, animal husbandry, education, and sexual abstinence until marriage.
The program in Rwanda has found that many of these youth are completely self-sufficient within two years. One of those orphaned youth that ZOE has met is a young girl named Marie Louise. The third born of six children, Marie Louise was an orphan when at age fourteen she was brutally raped by two men on the way home from school one day. Shamed because of her pregnancy, her siblings drove her from her home.
When her baby was born she named the child, "Misery." At the age of 1and ½, the child was so malnourished that he could not yet walk. In a futile effort to care for her child, Marie Louise worked in neighbors fields. Her neighbors exploited her by refusing to pay her fair wages.
When Marie Louise was identified by the Giving Hope project, the boys in her group agreed that she would never be attacked again. They took turns escorting her anywhere she went, forming an informal bodyguard to protect her. The older girls took turns staying with her at night so that she wouldn't have to stay alone.
From their group savings, they loaned Marie Louise enough money to buy a pig. The pig had piglets. Marie Louise sold some of the piglets to pay back her loan. With the remaining money she opened a stand in the local market selling flour for cassava bread. She did well enough in the market that she was able to save enough money to buy a field. Finding that her work in the market kept her too busy to cultivate her field, she hired the very neighbors who had been exploiting her to care for her crops.
In addition to our relief efforts, ZOE Ministry has adopted and begun implementing this empowerment model. The program is designed so that the orphans will be equipped and independent after two years. Thus, a two year investment in a family of orphans can result in a life-time of self-sufficiency, impacting families for generations. That is bearing fruit that will last!
Daily Prayer points:
• That God would allow our hearts to break for the orphans left in the wake of the AIDS pandemic in Africa .
• Continued growth in our efforts to feed, clothe, educate, and offer medical care for orphans and vulnerable children.
• That children will come to faith in Christ through the efforts of ZOE Ministry .
• For our Empowerment ministry being launched in Kenya and Zambia this year. The "Giving Hope" methodology focuses on equipping children to learn how to provide for themselves so as to break the cycle of dependency.
• That God would raise up major donors who can help move ZOE Ministry to significantly expand our care for orphans and vulnerable children.
FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2007
Fact: Zimbabwe 's women have an average life expectancy of 34 years and men on average do not live past 37.
Matthew 27:15-56, I John 3:16-20
Thought: On this day Jesus laid down His life for us. We, too, are called to lay down our lives for others.
Devotion: Recently I met a young girl named, "Whisper", in Zimbabwe . Whisper is eight years old. Her father died two years ago because of AIDS. When I visited her home I couldn't help but notice what a doting child she was toward her mother. It was obvious she adored her mom. Together they laughed when they saw their images on the backs of the digital cameras. She willingly gathered the firewood to help prepare supper. She helps to look after her younger brother.
Whisper's mother will not live to see her grow up. In all likelihood, AIDS will claim her mother's life before this year is over.
Scripture tells us that we have a responsibility for children such as Whisper. In fact, John tells us we are to lay down our lives for them (1 John 3:16). Knowing that few will ever truly face martyrdom, John explains what it means for us to lay down our lives for others in verse 17. We do so by sharing of our material resources with those who are suffering. It is in the act of caring for the suffering that we emulate the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us. If we neglect that act, John would say that the love of God is not in us.
ZOE has enrolled Whisper in school. She has food to eat each day at school and has received her school uniform. There will be 6,000 more "Whispers" today. As 6,000 more children become orphaned today, God whispers to each of us to lay down our lives as Christ did. Will you respond to God's whisper?
Daily Prayer points:
• That God would allow our hearts to break for the orphans left in the wake of the AIDS pandemic in Africa .
• Continued growth in our efforts to feed, clothe, educate, and offer medical care for orphans and vulnerable children.
• That children will come to faith in Christ through the efforts of ZOE Ministry .
• For our Empowerment ministry being launched in Kenya and Zambia this year. The "Giving Hope" methodology focuses on equipping children to learn how to provide for themselves so as to break the cycle of dependency.
• That God would raise up major donors who can help move ZOE Ministry to significantly expand our care for orphans and vulnerable children.
