Love
. . .
Saturday
And
the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen
his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full
of grace and truth. --John 1:14
by
Dan Baumgartner
To
get to Justeen’s house, you drive
on a highway, then a street, then a dirt road, then a grassy
path and finally you get out and walk the last quarter mile
to reach her village. The house is at the end of the village.
Like
most of the other dilapidated houses, it is perhaps 300
square feet in size, with no electricity or water. It has
cement floors, a few dishes on the floor and two thin mattresses
leaning against a wall.
Fifteen
feet away from the front door are the graves of Justeen’s
father and mother, both of whom died of HIV/AIDS. Other
family members are buried there as well.
Justeen
is just fourteen years old, but the sole head of household
caring for younger brothers Paul (10) and JohnTheBaptist
(7). She is listless and despondent. The guide explains
that he thinks this is because she has a touch of malaria.
Perhaps.
It
all seemed so devoid of hope that I had
to get outside to clear my head and wipe my eyes. A friend
staggered out of the front door with me.
“Boy,”
he croaked, “this is where the Incarnation really
means something.” It seemed like a poor time for a
theological discussion, but I was interested.
“Can
you believe,” he said, “that Christ came into
this kind of world? Into this kind of
place?”
It’s
so easy to think that Christ’s coming was to an idyllic
small town setting with soft light and clean straw, like
our polished mantle-top nativity scenes. Instead, it seems
he came where he was most needed: to a world full of greed,
war and broken people. A world like our world. And people
like us.
Beautiful
Savior, at times it really is hard to believe that you
loved us so much that you would enter this cruel world
so that we might be saved. Help us to cling to your love,
your hope and to your resurrection power as we walk in
partnership with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. May
it all be for your glory. We pray this in the blessed
name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.
An
Advent Journey