View from Mbita base veranda

Wait . . .

Monday

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
--Psalm 37:5-6

by Cory and Kathy Parker

We had “committed our way to the Lord” with a journey to East Africa, specifically to a Youth With A Mission base called Kenya Islands Mission on the edge of Lake Victoria. When the sketchy, overnight bus from Nairobi to Homa Bay dropped us off at 5 am on a dirt road without a soul in sight, we began to question this way of ours.

But after a couple hours of sleep in a small hotel, we were picked up in a van and driven to Mbita to be introduced to the directors and the employees of the base. The YWAM students had just returned from a 10-week evangelistic tour of northern Kenya and in the midst of their celebrations of God’s work we were welcomed into the life of the base.

Such generous hospitality confirmed for us that we were in the right place.

The next day, we were ready to jump right in to the work of God’s kingdom and “the justice of our cause.” With the obvious poverty, AIDS, orphaned children, and malaria surrounding us, surely this was the perfect place to begin work to alleviate pain in the world. But after waiting on the veranda for several hours, we began to ask ourselves:

“This is nice, but when are we going to DO something?”

Eventually Kathy wandered down to the school for orphans and taught science to extremely well-behaved third-graders. Cory wandered into a half-built storage area to build shelves with a 70-year-old Luo man.

And that was how our week went…some days we would work a couple of hours, other days we would sit on the veranda or be invited to a revival meeting. We expected to jump right in and accomplish things, but we had yet to read the next verse after Psalm 37:6, which says,

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”

At one of the revival meetings, our friend Beatrice said we should stop trying to make our own joy… let the Holy Spirit bring you his joy. May you wait patiently for God’s joy this advent season.

Gracious God, light our way during this Advent season. Help us to be sensitive to the leading of your Holy Spirit so that we can experience your joy and purpose. Show us how we can best walk and be with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. In all we do and say, may we demonstrate our commitment to you and our deep trust in you. We love you, Lord, and commit this Advent journey to you. For your name’s sake we pray. Amen.