A DAY IN THE FOREST
Posted on July 13, 2009 - Filed Under General News | Leave a Comment
PLEASE COME
Yay, I wasn’t sick today so I was able to go up into the forest with
Charlie. Last Sunday, he and Joseph went without me and I stayed home in
bed. In spite of the bumpy roads, going was much better. We first made a
brief visit to the church at Lejiji (in the middle) before heading on to
Longshanii. The meaning of the latter is the name of a small animal,
something like a dog. I’ve no idea what it’s called in English and I’ve
never seen one, but they say there are many of them in this place.
Longshanii is a new location where folks have expressed a desire to start a
church. Our Samburu co-worker whose gifting is in the area of
organization has been instrumental in helping several new places establish
churches. At Lejiji and several others they have already constructed
buildings made in the traditional Samburu style using cedar posts. In total,
there are currently eight groups meeting. Some could already be considered a
church, while others, such as Longshanii are in the very early stages. They
were apologetic for the low numbers in attendance today. Several were away
tending to what is becoming a big problem lately. Cows are dying everywhere.
Nine had died here today. Our friend says thirty of his have died so far. He
wonders if he will be left with any. The meat is no good, even the bones
cannot be boiled for soup. The only thing is to remove the skin which they
use for bedding. Normally, they will be able to sell the skins in town, but
even the buyers do not want them these days. And still, as it comes time to
pray the people find reason to thank God. Their prayers are not focused on
the bad that has happened. They thank God they are alive today. They thank
God that many of the children are well. (Others have a persistent cough.)
While they continue to pray for rain, today they have gathered today to
praise and to worship and to learn.
We are so blessed to be in this place at this time, taking part in
what God is doing among these people. Some of these churches were started
without any assistance from us. This week, our friend is making plans so
that Charlie can begin leadership/pastor training in a central location for
these men. In an age when so many are turning away from God, what a joy to
be in a situation where people are coming to us and asking, “Please, come
and teach us the Word of God.” For whatever reason, many Samburu already
believe that the Bible is the Word of God. They have very little, if any,
idea of what it says. Some of the major teachings conflict with their
traditional beliefs.
Recently, an old man stood in front of a group of his peers and
confronted them. “We have 2 problems”, he said. “We do not believe in
eternal life (i,e, life after death or judgement) and we believe that when a
man goes to church that it is a bad thing.” He talked about how some say
that you must have done a very bad thing if you are going to church and that
now you are leaving your culture. He went on to admonish the group that
neither is true.
So, what does a Samburu do when the Bible is in contrast to cultural
beliefs? They will do what all of us must do. They will make a choice. Some
will choose one way and some will choose the other. Although they generally
like to decide things as a group, this is one time the decision must be made
by each individual.
Today, Charlie told the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. In this
very poor society, it is easy to want to believe that the end of the story
is when Lazarus gets to go to paradise and the rich man is sent to eternal
suffering. Some want to believe that the rich man is punished for his bad
behavior toward poor Lazarus, who is now rewarded for all his earthly pain
by being welcomed into the arms of Abraham. But the moral always comes at
the end of the story and that is not the end. It continues as the rich man
begs for a drop of water from the tip of Lazarus’ finger, but is refused.
Then he pleads for Lazarus to be sent to his father’s home to warn them so
they do not have to be sent to the place of torment. He is told that they
have Moses and the Prophets, “let them hear them.” The rich man insists that
if someone from the dead will go, then they will repent! The final refusal
is given with these words, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets,
neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:31
NASB) The moral is that we EACH have a choice. We EACH have the opportunity
to hear Moses, and the Prophets and even the words of Jesus and the
Apostles. But the choice must be made in this lifetime. And once you make
the choice to follow Jesus it changes your life.
I was so encouraged by the words the new church at Lejiji was singing
today. “Send me to Tungai, send me to Longshanii. I am a servant of God. We
are all messengers.” Wow. I’ve been to a lot of Samburu church services and
this is the first time I’ve heard any of them sing an evangelistic, mission
minded song. May God bless their desire to be sent to other places to be the
messenger of His Word. Amen.
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