Courage for Boldness

When I packed my bags to head out to Kenya, I had more than a few expectations for the trip. I expected the flights to be long and for jet lag to be a thing to overcome. Praise that God was gracious to give us energy that week, even though we came rolling into Nairobi having gotten little to no sleep and traveling for over 24 hours. I expected to enjoy warmer weather than what I left behind, and it was glorious! Oh, how I miss those sweet days in the sun. I expected to fall in love with some precious faces, and I so very much did. At last count, I think we were ready to bring 5 kids home, but it just wasn't something we could work out in a week's time.

What I didn't expect to find was courage, boldness, and awesome lives of inspiration in faces I had never met before I got on the plane to other half of the globe.

I love a good story. Case in point, while traveling those many hours in the plane, and thanks to a few sleepless hours during the night, I finished 3 books during my travels. I peruse blogs, pouring over the lives of people I will never meet but nevertheless entertain me. I can sit for hours around a kitchen table or in a restaurant listening to people share, and playing the role of story teller myself. (On a side note, I have a million stories in my arsenal and I can talk for hours, but I'm trying to get as good at listening as I am at talking. Really. I am.) A good word shared is a treasure to me.

During our trip, we came across three men with three different tales: Big Patrick, Little Patrick and Kevin.

I found Little Patrick in a tiny church with a dirt floor and a tin metal roof just outside of Nairobi. He's a small man in a big suit with and even bigger personality and a smile to match. Little Patrick used to brew beer, but he gave that up to become a minister. Now he preaches every Sunday, is mentoring five other people to become ministers and plant churches, and runs a greenhouse where he raises peppers to help provide for his family. His wife Rosemary runs a small school about a kilometer away from the church where she teaches around 25 children.

I met Big Patrick on a Monday morning at the Limuru Children's Center. He's a big guy with the most lovely African accent in his voice. His mother, a godly woman, saw children in her village that were going without food and decided that she would feed them. She dragged her son along for the ride, despite his protests that this was a crazy idea. At the time, Big Patrick was working on cars, and he prayed that surely God would have other plans for him besides this ministry to local kids. But, three years later, Big Patrick now runs the Children's Center which houses around 30 kids, as well as feeding and offering preschool to the local village kids. He and his staff work earnestly to see that each child grows up to become independent adults, whether that comes through schooling, vocational training, or apprenticing.

Thursday I got to share dinner with the very humorous Kevin Hoke and his lovely wife Cheryl. Kevin was a full-time farmer in Arkansas. After dealing with some unexpected health issues, he felt that God was calling him in a different direction. So, Kevin packed up his wife and daughter, and moved the family to Kenya where he now works full time on helping restore the Kenya Baptist Theological College.

The point is, in each of these lives, I found three men just living day to day with their wives and children until God shook things up and pointed them in a new direction. I think sometimes we try to divide God into two different divisions: who He was and who He is now. But here's what I've found....

The same God who took a fugitive shepherd, placed a staff in his hand and sent him back to Egypt to lead the Israelites to freedom from slavery, is the same God who took a young man out of the beer brewing business and made him a preacher.

The same God who placed a Jewish girl on the throne in ancient Persia and further sent her before the king to plea for her people, is the same God that moved a woman to see the hungry children in her midst, and enlisting her son's help, did what needed to be done to get them fed.

The same God who called Simon and Andrew to put down their nets and give up their careers as fishermen, is the same God who called a farmer from Arkansas to give up his land and move to the other side of the globe.

He still shakes up lives and does incredible things. He still calls His children to do the crazy, unimaginable, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever thing. And when they do, it still glorifies Him and serves as a witness and a source of encouragement to be bold. To give up the comfortable and step out into the unknown, fully relying on God. To be modern day examples of faith lived out.

So, friends, I challenge you to go find these people. Whether you read about their lives on a blog, from the pages of a book, or get the chance to sit across the table and listen to what they have to say, take their stories in. Let their words resonate in your heart and mind. May their lives open your eyes to see that the God who was, is still the God who is in the business of changing lives. And may you, too, be encouraged to be bold.