Over the last year preparing to travel to Kenya, one of my questions has been whether I'll have enough common ground with the Kenyans to feel a real connection with them. When I meet the grandmother/guardian of our sponsored boy, will we have much to talk about? Our family spends a whole lot of time playing, watching, thinking about, and talking about sports. I can imagine that when you are working hard to have the basic necessities of life -- food, water, safety, shelter -- sports might seem superfluous. Maybe even a shallow pastime.
Mike Moffitt's sermons on how the Holy Spirit brings unity out of diversity have been encouraging. He even described becoming friends with someone at a conference with whom he had
nothing in common except Jesus. Yet when they were closing their experience with prayer, his new friend not only held hands with him, but interlaced fingers! What an intimate expression of friendship as they began to speak to God together. With the Kenyans, I want to trust that Jesus will be enough to connect us in a meaningful way. I guess if you're going to only have one thing in common with a new friend, God is a pretty great option! He is a Heavenly Father that makes us brothers and sisters in a deep way, even an eternal way.
May the closeness that only Jesus can create be formed quickly and meaningfully between the UPPC team and our new friends from Meru.
