Update
Life update:
In the last six months I have traveled the globe and seen God move in amazing ways. At the start of May my parents, oldest brother and I went to tour a large portion of Europe; we saw how God used battles and kings to spread His word, seeing beautifully ornate cathedral’s and churches. However we also saw that most of Europe has pulled away from God and started to seek things of this world that fade, they worshiped Kings, sex, alcohol, and most of all themselves. quickly following this trip to Europe where most if not all say they do not have a “religion” or god they worship; I went to Kenya. Kenya is thriving! The want and need to not only follow God but worship Him and spread His word to others is overwhelming! I stood in awe at the first worship service I attended there. We all hear about King David dancing for the Lord in the old testament, but rarely do we ourselves dance for joy in front of our Lord, I witnessed fifty to a hundred Kenyan men and women singing, shouting, whooping, jumping, whistling, and most of all DANCING for the Lord! it was reviving to watch and participate in! coming off of a trip where I didn’t see many (if any) people worshiping God to a place where we freely danced for God was like a cold bath and a breath of fresh air.
Kenya was a mission trip with my church (First Baptist Church Trussville) who partnered with the organization Foundations 4 Hope. After nearly twenty hours of flying we had made it from Atlanta Georgia, to Doha Qatar, and finally Nairobi Kenya! Once at our first hotel of the trip we split off into our roommate groups and headed to bed (as it was two am local time and we had been flying for twenty or more hours). My roommate and I quickly showered and slept so we could then wake up at seven to eat and get back to the airport for our last flight of this leg of the trip. Come five (ish) am, I remember a loud voice waking me, I had only bee asleep for a few hours and was very groggy. The voice was low and loud, I could not understand what he was saying, it was definitely a man; then he paused, and began to sing. Our hotel was in a part of town that was majorly Muslim, and my window faced the Mosque. I had just heard my first Muslim call to prayer, and my heart ached. A few hours later at breakfast all of us spoke of the singing we heard hours prior, and we all talked about how we immediately thought to pray for the Muslims who had woken up an hour or more before this prayer to get dressed and maybe even go down to the Mosque by our hotel and kneel in a certain direction to pray to their god. We all prayed similar things, how we wanted to be able to rejoice with these men and women one day in Heaven knowing they had committed their lives to the one true living God, believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Today I have been accepted into a program held by NAMB (North American Mission Board) to volunteer in Boston and train for being a missionary in a new place. But I was also reminded how, there are people all over who think they need to be in a certain place, at a certain time, with the right clothes on, facing the perfect direction, leading the ideal life, to walk with God. God didn’t call us to spread His Gospel because we have never sinned, or because we kept all of the laws in the old testament, that we also woke up and prayed to Him before the sunrise. No, He called us because we are imperfect, but we long for His perfection. He called us because we have sinned, but our spirit is willing (Matthew 26:41) to break off all the chains that sin has bound us in. God calls those who love Him and want to obey Him.
“We aren’t loved because we obey. We obey because we are loved.”
Amen!