This morning I was getting ready to shower, cleaning out the hairs that always accumulate in the filter. I was thinking about how the Bible says that the very hairs of our head are all numbered by our Heavenly Father. (Matthew 10:30). Laughing, I said to myself, "He doesn't just count them once. He has to get a new count every time we shower." Suddenly I began to gain a new appreciation for God's intimate care over His creation. He isn't involved only in the big things--keeping the planets on their courses, etc. He is intimately and personally involved with His creatures, and with each of us.
How different this is from the idea so prevalent in African traditional religion that God is Creator all right, but He's far away, too busy or too disinterested to care much about our affairs. Priests of African traditional religion tell me that God appointed the lesser gods to take care of the affairs of the world and of our lives. Of course, God is very clear that He appointed only One Mediator between us and Him--our Lord Jesus Christ (I Timothy 2:5). I've always known He cares about us. But it struck me in a new way that day. I care about my daughter, but I don't count the hairs on her head. Even the hairs in the drain would keep me busy. God cares about us so much and He knows the details of our lives so intimately, that He keeps track of each hair. I am so glad that I serve a God who is intimately involved. Praise Him forever, and may every group of people in Africa come to know His great care for them.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
ECM Gets Involved in Fighting Child Sacrifice, Ritual Abuse
When Resty, the coordinator of ECM’s Gayaza Sponsorship Project in Uganda visited her sister recently, she told me she had my training on child trafficking fresh on her mind. So when she learned that a village woman had just rescued a three year old child who was discarded in a sack, she was immediately interested. As she learned to do in her training, she began to ask more questions, to look deeper.
When she learned what had happened to the little girl, she knew she had to get involved. The baby had suffered horrific ritual abuse in a traditional shrine, including having her undeveloped canine teeth cut out of her jaw, undoubtedly for ritual purposes. Her head hung to one side and her neck looked rotten, signs that she had probably been tied up around the neck. Then she had nearly suffocated when stuffed alive into a bag and discarded. She was found nearly drowning in her own feces, and seemingly near death.
In God’s mercy, a kindly lady found the little girl and did everything possible to rescue her, cleaning her up and seeking medical treatment at a hospital in spite of that fact that the child seemed not to see, hear or make any sound, and that all her joints had stiffened, including her backbone. The foster mother named the child Hope Tereza, and cared for her valiantly in spite of the fact that she had two other children to care for, one of them also unable to speak, and that her tumbledown hut leaked badly.
As the police began to search for the parents, two men showed up threatening the foster mother. It turned out that these men had kidnapped the child eighteen months previously and had used her as a sacrifice for rituals in a traditional shrine. The police then were able to locate the parents, who had nearly exhausted all their resources, even selling their land in their search for their missing child. The police have advised the family to leave the child in foster care for the time being while the parents settle some family issues. The girl’s original name was Resty, the same as the ECM worker who has been helping her.
ECM is now helping the valiant family who rescued the child as well as to the child Resty herself. We’ll call her Resty Hope to combine the two names. We have given assistance from our Rescue Fund, but we now need additional help. If we pull together, we believe that this family should be the beginning of a new sponsorship program in the Masaka District. We are seeking sponsors not only for Resty Hope, but for the two other children of the foster family. We also need special funds to help meet Resty Hope’s special needs and to get the new Masaka program started. In addition, our staff are working with all stakeholders to develop informative skits for public use that will show parents how they can protect their children against the growing problem of child sacrifice in Uganda. Gifts will also be accepted for this program.
Resty Hope’s joints are becoming less stiff with therapeutic massage, she seems to be seeing and hearing, and she is now able to smile. It is believed that a cerebral palsy chair would help her.
I remember being impressed recently as I watched a video recently of Gianna, a young woman who suffers cerebral palsy induced by the late term saline abortion by which her mother sought to end her life. She was born alive but damaged by the saline, and has become a mighty advocate of life. (You can watch her at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPFhCNOuQ. If you have difficulty, just go to youtube and type abortion survivor in the search box.)
Like Gianna, Resty Hope, may never again be normal (although we acknowledge God’s ability to heal). But even if she is never normal, God must have very special plans for her life. Who else could have sent a woman who had such a heart to help her, just when she was at the point of death?
Let’s all join together in praying for Resty Hope! Those who wish to help can designate their gifts for one of these projects when giving to Every Child Ministries at www.ecmafrica.org.
When she learned what had happened to the little girl, she knew she had to get involved. The baby had suffered horrific ritual abuse in a traditional shrine, including having her undeveloped canine teeth cut out of her jaw, undoubtedly for ritual purposes. Her head hung to one side and her neck looked rotten, signs that she had probably been tied up around the neck. Then she had nearly suffocated when stuffed alive into a bag and discarded. She was found nearly drowning in her own feces, and seemingly near death.
In God’s mercy, a kindly lady found the little girl and did everything possible to rescue her, cleaning her up and seeking medical treatment at a hospital in spite of that fact that the child seemed not to see, hear or make any sound, and that all her joints had stiffened, including her backbone. The foster mother named the child Hope Tereza, and cared for her valiantly in spite of the fact that she had two other children to care for, one of them also unable to speak, and that her tumbledown hut leaked badly.
As the police began to search for the parents, two men showed up threatening the foster mother. It turned out that these men had kidnapped the child eighteen months previously and had used her as a sacrifice for rituals in a traditional shrine. The police then were able to locate the parents, who had nearly exhausted all their resources, even selling their land in their search for their missing child. The police have advised the family to leave the child in foster care for the time being while the parents settle some family issues. The girl’s original name was Resty, the same as the ECM worker who has been helping her.
ECM is now helping the valiant family who rescued the child as well as to the child Resty herself. We’ll call her Resty Hope to combine the two names. We have given assistance from our Rescue Fund, but we now need additional help. If we pull together, we believe that this family should be the beginning of a new sponsorship program in the Masaka District. We are seeking sponsors not only for Resty Hope, but for the two other children of the foster family. We also need special funds to help meet Resty Hope’s special needs and to get the new Masaka program started. In addition, our staff are working with all stakeholders to develop informative skits for public use that will show parents how they can protect their children against the growing problem of child sacrifice in Uganda. Gifts will also be accepted for this program.
Resty Hope’s joints are becoming less stiff with therapeutic massage, she seems to be seeing and hearing, and she is now able to smile. It is believed that a cerebral palsy chair would help her.
I remember being impressed recently as I watched a video recently of Gianna, a young woman who suffers cerebral palsy induced by the late term saline abortion by which her mother sought to end her life. She was born alive but damaged by the saline, and has become a mighty advocate of life. (You can watch her at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPFhCNOuQ. If you have difficulty, just go to youtube and type abortion survivor in the search box.)
Like Gianna, Resty Hope, may never again be normal (although we acknowledge God’s ability to heal). But even if she is never normal, God must have very special plans for her life. Who else could have sent a woman who had such a heart to help her, just when she was at the point of death?
Let’s all join together in praying for Resty Hope! Those who wish to help can designate their gifts for one of these projects when giving to Every Child Ministries at www.ecmafrica.org.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Counting the Cost
Our home church missions emphasis month is featuring the theme, Counting the Cost. I was reminded of it again yesterday when I read on another blog about the death of a young woman Peace Corps worker. She taught school in an African country. She got close to the girls and realized that they were being systematically sexually abused. After much consideration, she decided to report the matter to the proper authority--discreetly and anonymously. The day after her report, she was found murdered in her home.
As I read her sad story, I remembered how many times I have faced up to the fact that what I am doing could cost my life. I've thought about it long and hard and many times. I value my life and I enjoy living. I'm not afraid to die. I know that when I die, by God's grace I will be with Him, because I know that Jesus Christ paid my sin debt to God. But still, I've got eternity to enjoy heaven and not so long to enjoy this life, so I'm in no hurry to move on to the next life.
Every time I've thought about it, though, I have come up with the same conclusion. What I am doing is worth living for, and it is worth dying for. I remember one night in Congo when we were trapped in the war there. There was fighting all around us and it was not safe to leave the house where we were staying. One evening we heard that the soldiers were planning to raid our neighborhood that night. There was no way to get out. I really thought we might die that night. We gathered with our Congolese friends who were there and knelt together. We prayed committing our lives to the Lord. The tears flowed down my face, but there was an amazing peace in my heart. The soldiers never did raid the neighborhood. We learned later that the guard reported seeing angels over the gate that night.
But it could have been different. Many missionaries have been killed at their post of service. Am I better than they? No. I don't know why I survived the Congo war and others suffered so much. I only know I have counted the cost, and I am willing to pay whatever it is.
In fact, the very book that God used to confirm His missionary call to me many, many years ago was "Through Gates of Splendor," a book about the martyrdom of five American missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador. My reaction then, as now, was sober but peaceful. I will give my life for the children of Africa. One way or another.
As I read her sad story, I remembered how many times I have faced up to the fact that what I am doing could cost my life. I've thought about it long and hard and many times. I value my life and I enjoy living. I'm not afraid to die. I know that when I die, by God's grace I will be with Him, because I know that Jesus Christ paid my sin debt to God. But still, I've got eternity to enjoy heaven and not so long to enjoy this life, so I'm in no hurry to move on to the next life.
Every time I've thought about it, though, I have come up with the same conclusion. What I am doing is worth living for, and it is worth dying for. I remember one night in Congo when we were trapped in the war there. There was fighting all around us and it was not safe to leave the house where we were staying. One evening we heard that the soldiers were planning to raid our neighborhood that night. There was no way to get out. I really thought we might die that night. We gathered with our Congolese friends who were there and knelt together. We prayed committing our lives to the Lord. The tears flowed down my face, but there was an amazing peace in my heart. The soldiers never did raid the neighborhood. We learned later that the guard reported seeing angels over the gate that night.
But it could have been different. Many missionaries have been killed at their post of service. Am I better than they? No. I don't know why I survived the Congo war and others suffered so much. I only know I have counted the cost, and I am willing to pay whatever it is.
In fact, the very book that God used to confirm His missionary call to me many, many years ago was "Through Gates of Splendor," a book about the martyrdom of five American missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador. My reaction then, as now, was sober but peaceful. I will give my life for the children of Africa. One way or another.
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