Rejoice
. . .
Thursday,
December 16
He
called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly
I tell you, unless you change and become like children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes
humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes
me.’ -- Matthew 18:2-5
by
Laurel Mackintosh
Last
December Bethany invited World Vision to
speak to the congregation about child sponsorship. Based
on experience with similarly sized churches, they thought
we might sponsor about 40 children. God, however, had other
plans. Bethany members are now sponsoring close to 150 children
in the Soweto (Kenya) ADP.
As
Bethany’s child sponsorship liaison to World Vision,
I am sometimes approached by potential sponsors and asked:
“Are you sure there aren’t just five or ten
stock photos of the same child that are sent out to the
masses?” and “How do I know that the dollars
I send actually go to help my sponsored child?”
Have
I got news for you! Those of us who went to Kenya last summer
had the opportunity to meet the children we are sponsoring
face to face.
I
knew it was Margaret the second I saw her.
She was standing in the front row and looking down at her
shoes, much like she was doing in the first photo I had
received. At first, the language barrier made communicating
a little difficult, but soon the children were all playing
and having a great time with their sponsors.
My
favorite moment of the whole trip was about 30 minutes into
our time with the children…I was fighting with a Polaroid
camera that was winning the battle and Margaret came over,
leaned into me, took both of my arms and wrapped them around
her. It was awesome!
Over
the seven years I’ve been at Bethany, I’ve seen
some pretty incredible examples of regular people giving
a great deal of themselves to others and it’s inspired
me greatly. Each time God has allowed me to reach out and
give, I have received back an overwhelming embarrassment
of riches in return.
Abba
Father, as we celebrate the birth of your son, we give
thanks that through faith in him we can share the joy
of being your family with people from all over the world.
We are blessed to be forming relationships with children
and their families in Kenya. We pray that the relationships
built through sponsorship and our other “Kenya connections”
will be filled with mutual encouragement, learning and
love. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.
An Advent Journey