SHARING ONE OF GOD’S GREAT GIFTS: HOPE
It’s been a year now since we started our journey following God’s call to help and serve the people of Kager village. It has been a truly amazing faith journey…
…to see David Kayando step up and build an amazing team of Champions to lead the project in the Village
…to see my brothers and sisters here in Indianapolis join in as Partners and Benefactors to support this noble calling
…to see the transformation that is starting to take place in the lives of individuals and families in Kager village as projects begin taking root and growing and bearing fruit…Model Farms…JOY Kitchens…Jubilee Scholars…Kijiji Benki microloaners
…to see the faces of the elderly in the village as we explained how a solar lantern works and that they would no longer have to burn dirty candles and paraffin (and spend the little money they had) to light their homes at night
But what has been most amazing of all is to realize in just one short year, we have been able to serve as Christ’s ambassadors to this faraway village in western Kenya to share with them something far more important than a water purifier, far more important than a microloan, far more important than a BUV…
…the greatest gift we have been able to share with our brothers and sisters in Kager village is something that can only come from God — HOPE. Hope for a new future for the village. Hope for a new future for their families. Hope for a new future for their children.
www.gotuquestions.org has this to say about hope: “The Biblical definition of hope is “confident expectation.”
Hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown (Romans 8:24-25; Hebrews 11:1,7).
Without hope, life loses its meaning (Lamentations 3:18, Job 7:6) and in death there is no hope (Isaiah 38:18, Job 17:15).
The righteous who trust or put their hope in God will be helped (Psalm 28:7), and they will not be confounded, put to shame, or disappointed (Isaiah 49:23).
The righteous who have this trustful hope in God have a general confidence in God’s protection and help (Jeremiah 29:11) and are free from fear and anxiety (Psalm 46:2-3).
This Thanksgiving season, one of the things I am most thankful for is that God has called on the Jubilee Village Project to be a messenger of hope to the people and families of Kager village. May God continue to bless the good works of JVP and may He bind us together in sharing the faith, hope and love that comes through the blood and love of Jesus Christ.
Ned