Kenya Update Numero Uno/Moja

So I'm in a little place called Africa right now, and since people have been asking, here is my stereotypical "guy in another country for a long time" blog.  These are just some excerpts from my journal that I write in every day.  They are some of the lessons I've been learning and things I've been doing.  Enjoy!

Friday (Feeding Station)

In one of the classrooms, the kids were very excited to show me every little thing in the room, and when I say everything, I mean literally.  Every.  Thing.  Then a little girl handed me a piece of chalk and pointed to the chalkboard, and said “write.”  In the best way I could in my dumb English, no Swahili comprehending way, I asked what she wanted me to write.  She answered, “Love.”  Yes, love.  I was taken aback and did not know what to say or think.  It kind of hit me then.  All you need is love.  Cue corny Beatles reference.  But seriously, that is all they are longing for.  Not food or water or good teaching.  Love.  These kids come from a background of neglect, abuse, and separation.  They are desperate for any type of attention.  Sure, food is great, but food only satisfies for so long until you need more.  Same with water.  You are constantly needing more.  But with love, Christ is enough.  He is all we could ever want or need, and we are totally satisfied in Him.  So where do I fit in with all of this?  I am just a messenger.  I am a physical representation of God’s love.  So I spend myself completely so at the end of the day, I may be exhausted, but knowing that I gave it all away.  See they may see a crazy mzungu (white guy), and just want to pull his arms off or try to take his weird white skin for their own or feel his crazy leg hair, but in the end, they are looking for some kind of love because they WILL NOT get it anywhere else.  So we bring them to give food and schooling, but in the end, we provide God’s love, and hope and know that it will, in time, change lives forever.  All I am is a messenger, and I am completely honored by this.

 

Saturday (Mt. Elgon Pastor Training Center)

Then we entered a time of prayer.  I cannot even begin to describe what this was like.  Whether it be in Swahili or English, the ferventness (if that’s even a word-sorry English majors) of their prayers was extremely humbling.  They believed every word as if it was their own living breath.  This continued for probably an hour.  I just soaked it all in.  I also found myself being somewhat uncomfortable as I was not used to praying for this long.  This was a good time for a teaching moment.  Don’t ya just love those?  Here I am acting like a dumb American again.  I have not even close to the struggles that these men and women have.  Heck, some were praying that their very own lives would be safe from people threatening them.  I don’t have near this trouble, and I trust God for way less than they do.  And that’s sad.  We can say all day long that we trust God for this and that, or even better -> “I’m praying for you” <shudders>, but do we really mean it?  Most of the time, the answer is no.  In our American superficiality, we release the power of God for the appearance of being “religious.”  We, as Christians, must end this!  We CANNOT exchange the presence of “God with us” to God’s some where around as “my medicine cabinet,” where I can get Him when I want Him.  Instead, we exchange our superficiality for a deeper relationship.  With a deeper relationship comes better conversation and more powerful prayers.  So you can bet that once again I was left speechless and processing what I had just seen and heard

 

Sunday (Tent Church)

As we drove away from the church, I couldn’t help but stare at the city dump that the church is right next to, like I always do.  People sniffing glue to curb their hunger pains, children younger than three searching through the trash for scraps of food, the all too familiar smell of burning trash.  It’s an extremely sobering sight.  It sticks in your head so that you can never forget it.  The hardest part is that just a few feet away is a body of people who want nothing more than to help them, but they choose to stay in their stubborn ways.  It’s so extremely hard to see them living like that, but there is no way you can help someone who is not willing to accept the help.  This is one of the things that I have never really come to grips with.  The sight always haunts me.  I don’t really have an answer to this, but what I do know is that no one is too far from grace.  As has been said over and over again, you can’t fix Kenya.  But you can maybe help one person.  And if that is possible, it is worth spending all your energy into that one facet.  So I keep chugging along, having an awesome time, but everyday, learning the hard lessons God has in store for me.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this! More to come hopefully (if the internet actually starts working)!

Your prayers keep me going,

Sam

LOST.......Or Truly Lost?

4. 8. 15. 16. 23. 42.
     The famous numbers.  If you add them together, they equal 108, another iconic number in the tv show that made these numbers famous: LOST.  LOST was one of my favorite tv shows when it aired a few years back.  The storyline goes like this: Oceanic Flight 815 crashes onto a deserted island, and the survivors have to learn to function in this new environment while realizing they are not truly alone on the island.  Over the six seasons of the show, the survivors discover many secrets of this mysterious island.  However, one of the frustrating things about the show was that whenever it answered one question, it presented more questions to be answered.  I was a huge fan of LOST, and, like any fan, became engrossed in the show.  I watched every single episode when it aired, and since pretty much every episode ended with a cliffhanger, could not wait until the next week.  Every episode included parts of one of the survivor's backstory, so I pretty much knew everything about every character.  I knew so much about this show that I once spent two hours explaining the questions and mysterious to my neighbor.  I, like any fan, could not wait to see how it all ended in season six.  All this to say, I was a bit obsessed with LOST.
     Well, when it all finally ended, I was extremely disappointed to realize that *SPOILER ALERT* everything that happened was because of a hole in the ground with a huge cork to cover it up, and that everything that had happened in the show was not really real; it was a sort of weird purgatory for the characters.  I had spent six years of my life with all this knowledge about the show only to be ultimately disappointed in the end.
     The other day I saw something on Facebook and was reminded of LOST.  It got me thinking (which is usually not a good thing!) that my experience with LOST is like may people's experience in this world.  See, there are a ton of people out there who honestly think that they are Christians, but actually don't know Christ at all.  They live their whole lives with extensive knowledge about Christ, but don't truly KNOW Him.  And they are, as I was with LOST, eternally disappointed when the end comes.  Matthew 7:21 says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  If we logically study this verse, we can easily extrapolate that there ARE people who do this every day.  People who are in the church, people who serve in the church even, who, if they have not truly believed and repented, but just said a prayer once, WILL go to Hell.  There is no question about this.  This is something that plagues the U.S.  All you have to do is look at your Twitter feed and you can see a guy/girl praising God for helping them with something when they needed Him, but the next moment living as if He never existed.  GOD IS NOT YOUR MEDICINE CABINET!!  This should break us to know that not only those who continually practice evil are going to Hell, but maybe even someone sitting down the row from us on Sunday morning.
     First, we should look at this as a reason to look at our own lives.  2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?" Before we cast judgment on other, we must take a step back and take a good, LONG look at our own lives.  We must be producing fruit and be truly following after Christ.  We must examine our lives to make sure we are truly disciples of Christ.  Second, like I said before, this must break us to tell others about Him.  The Matthew verse above obviously means that every day, we come into contact with those who do not believe in our God.  This gives us a reason to make our lives about the Gospel.  1 Peter 3:15 talks about always being ready to share the Gospel.  Our lives are not about us, but to make much of Him, to glorify Him.  We cannot allow people to go on with their lives, believing they are saved, and them ultimately be disappointed.  This should be a battle cry for our lives to stand up and be courageous about out faith!
     Today, I look back at LOST as a really good show with a really bad ending, because it does not have any eternal significance.  However, out lives DO have eternal significance. This is why this is so important.  Let us live our lives significantly, and, as Matt 7:21 states, TRULY do the will of our Heavenly Father.

-Sam
Soli Deo Gloria

Freshman Year (Insert T-Swift Lyrics)

Well, I'm home for the summer. It's crazy to look back and see how the Lord has moved and provided in my life over this past year at MC. I've faced trials and hardships, but also have seen God move in ways I never expected.  HE IS GOOD.

Here is a photo collection of my year...

Started right away making good friends (Rush Skits)

Camped out to rush Shawreth

Rushed Shawreth (one of the greatest things I've ever done)

Fall Preview Day

Became part of the "McLovin"family

Shawreth Follies (500 Days of Summer)

Shawreth Sweethearts, only the sweetest ladies on campus dance for Follies (look at that pretty cool dude in the back)

Shawreth Informal with Avni Patel

I became a Shawreth and found out who my big was, the incredible Lee McCarty!

Dave Barnes came for Choctaw Fest!

Took a spontaneous trip to Starkville

Swannanoa Informal with Mary Beth Hammack

Got to worship with Hillsong Live at Pinelake

ST Grab-a-Date with Alanna Tedder....Christmastime

McLovin Family Christmas

Carols By Candelight at First Baptist Jackson

Some pretty cool guys came to Memphis over Christmas Break

I got to opportunity to be at Passion 2012-What an incredible experience

Shawreth family trip to Meridian to shoot

Drove to Hattiesburg for the Memphis-SouthernMiss game

Kristian Stanfill came for Mosaic Week

DNOW back home

Shawreth Grab-a-Date with Maegan Easley...PuttPutt

Pretty much all Alanna, Hannah, and I learned in Biology this semester

Zombie Prom with Morgan Gaughf

Shawreth got second place for Derby Week!

Shawreth Formal with Alanna Tedder

We got to choose our baby sweetheart, Anne Marie Parke!

KT Mystery Date....Masquerade

ST Grab-a-Date.....Bowling

ST/KT Crush Party...Rumble in the Jungle!

Micheal Walley spent the semester in London and we welcomed him back!

ST Formal with Alex Windle in NOLA!

My Shawreth Family-We're pretty cool.

Needless to say, I've had an incredible freshman year at MC.  I'm looking forward to a great summer and what the Lord has planned for me.  However, I will be missing the one thing that makes MC the great place that it is, the people. I'll miss my friends. May God teach me so much over this summer like he already has thus far. Soli Deo Gloria.

Some pretty awesome friends...

Just for you....

This is for Amy Drake.
My Pleasure.

Nehemiah and Me

     So tonight at church, Jason spoke about the book of Nehemiah.  He mostly talked about leadership, what Nehemiah did right, and how we should do the same, but it hit me in a different way.  Nehemiah was living the life! I mean, he wasn't just the cupbearer to a king of just one country, but the king of an entire empire. The emperor's life was literally in Nehemiah's hands.  He could have found a way to get the drinks to the king without making sure it was poisoned.  I'm sure because of this huge job, everything was handed to him.

     Everything was fine and dandy until he got word of what was going on in Jerusalem.  The city was in shambles.  Hope was nowhere to be found.  Artaxerxes even made a law that Jerusalem could not be rebuilt.  But that didn't stop him.  Because the king trusted him, he allowed N. to go rebuild the city.  But it wasn't easy.  He faced all types of struggles almost every day.  But finally the wall was finished. N. could have stayed in Jerusalem and enjoy the great work being done, but he had to get back to the palace.

    Here is where I started thinking. It has been 23 days since we landed from Kenya.  This entire time, I've been here, but I haven't really been here or focused or anything. It has been a lot tougher to readjust to real life this time than last time.  I've really been struggling with why I'm placed here and not in Kenya where so much great, genuine work is being done.  Before I left for Kenya the first time, I was living the life like Nehemiah.  My parents practically handed me everything I needed and more.  This life is ok, but when you get word of the poverty in Kenya, everything changed.  As soon as Nehemiah heard the news, he started making preparations to go. Once I saw my sister's pictures 5 years ago, I began to prepare for the day I would be there.

    Fast forward. I left on my second trip to Kenya on Feb. 3.  This trip impacted my life probably even more than the first one.  Nehemiah had a culture shock when he reached Jerusalem.  He had to first rally the people and then begin the work.  For Kenya, we had to prepare lessons, crafts, medical supplies, etc. Nehemiah faced all sorts of problems.  No mission trip is perfect.  The enemy is constantly throwing things in the way to stunt our work.  If ministry is genuine, it will absolutely be a struggle at sometimes. 

     Finally, the beginning stages of the work in Jerusalem was completed when the wall was finished.  Nehemiah could not stay.  He had to go back to the palace.  He had a life back there that he needed to do for responsibility.  As much I wanted to stay in Kenya, I needed to come back home.  I have a life back here.  Even though it's been hard to be here, I need to be here.  I still have things to do here.

     A few years later, Nehemiah was appointed governor of Jerusalem.  He was able to go back and actually live there like he wished to before.  He just had to wait for a little bit, but then he got to go back.

     Kenya is my Jerusalem.  I want to stay there, but I can't.  I have work here yet to be done.  My "cupbearing job" isn't over with yet.  But one day, it will be.  I will finish my schooling and actually be able to do what I love, working with kids.  Now that could be in the U.S., Kenya, Honduras, many places.  Those are my Jerusalems.  When Nehemiah came back, he was a changed man.  He did things differently around the palace.  You cannot come back from Kenya without being changed.  It's impossible.

     Since I really was having trouble with being in the U.S., God showed me tonight that I am exactly where He wants me to be right now.  He wanted me to have a part in Jerusalem so it could change me.  But I'm here for a reason.  I can visit Jerusalem as much as I want, but for now, I can't stay.  But one day I will! I will be able to stay for the rest of my life.  And oh, what a day that will be!