Living a life that Matters

Christine Asobora is a one year old baby. Yet she can’t walk and weighs only 14 lbs. She also has a skin rash that has spread all over her body. That is because she has stunted growth caused by malaria. Her mother, Rebecca has to provide for the family because her husband has a severe liver problem. They have a brick laying business that she has to run on her own. After paying off laborers, she is left with about US$30 a month to provide for the family. Christine’s medicine is about US$6. Proper nutrition is important for her as well for her health and their family can only afford to eat cassava (a type of woody shrub) and beans. She is being breastfed because they can’t afford cow’s milk. Rebecca’s situation is essentially ‘helpless’.

I love to travel and marvel at God’s creation (Genesis 1:31). But as beautiful as it is, this world is not free of sin. There is poverty and stories like Rebecca’s everywhere in this world. I’m sure it is hard for many people to see this world as beautiful. I am so blessed – I have a home, a car, a job, an education, a good church, etc. Even when I go through financial hardships, I have opportunities to get a loan or make extra money. I can seek counsel when I have relationship problems or get medicine when I’m sick. I can even sit in a hot tub when my back hurts.

We have a tendency to blame God when we look at poverty or when there is a crisis in the world. We want to know why He would allow these things to happen. Does He even care? What we don’t get is that it is our own sin that causes this (Romans 5:12). Not only do we hurt each other, we haven’t taken care of God’s creation. Because of how greedy and corrupt we can be, it has left this great imbalance of wealth and poverty in the world. Rebecca and her family are a perfect example of a family suffering from humanity’s sin in the world.

While we go through these trials, we have to be careful to not give into temptation. It’s easy to get desperate and allow temptation to cloud our judgement. We like to count on ourselves to make things happen and not trust God. I’m not one to give up easy and at times have found myself doing what it takes to make things happen or get out of a situation. I have spent money I didn’t have many times and even restored to stealing in my younger days. I want to rely on God in my circumstances, not myself. I need to trust God to take care of me.

HOPE  –  I love this word. Hebrews 9:15 says Jesus came to rescue us. Having that relationship with Him gives us endless possibilities that He can do with us. God can even heal the little girl in the story from malaria if it be His will. But coming to Christ doesn’t always guarantee our deepest desires and answered prayers. When I came to Christ after my wife left me, I prayed over and over that God would heal my marriage. But that wasn’t in His will for me. But during those years of being single, I was able to draw close to God. He molded me to be a better father and used my singleness for His purposes in ministry. Even though it was a difficult time, God blessed me and rescued me from my life of sin.

“Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

In a perfect world, I would love to see all hearts turn to God and worship Him. I pray that His will be accomplished here on earth. Ephesians 2:10 says that God created us (when saved by grace) to do good works (His will). So it is up to us to carry out His plans. God created me with a purpose and I want to carry out His will accordingly.

World Water Day – March 22, 2011

The U.N. designates March 22 as the day of the year when we spotlight the global safe water and sanitation issue and the collective efforts underway to get solutions to those struggling and in need.

The Marsabit district – a very hot and extremely poor, crumbling dry area in northern Kenya.

Below is a video about Sabina. She has to walk a long way to get water – Pray for the nearly 1 billion people worldwide who lack access to a clean, safe source of water. Pray that many more communities will be transformed by the gift of clean water.

Every day, 1.1 billion people have to wash with, bathe in and drink dirty water.