MEETING PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL NEEDS

"Where are you?" is a question that God asked in Genesis 3:9 to Adam and Eve.  He wasn't asking them because he didn't know physically where they were...he knew they were hid in the garden. He was asking because the intimate fellowship between God and his creation had been broken due to disobedience.  A change had taken place in paradise.

When early foreigners came to Kenya they were amazed at the beauty of the geographical features and abundant wildlife. They wondered at the "uncivilized" ways of the native people who wore little clothes and had strange practices.  Some wanted to change the people and make them "respectable". Others wanted to leave the people and the places as they found them in what seemed like a paradise.

Today Kenya is not what it once was as forests have disappeared and small railway stops have now become mega-cities of millions.  It is still beautiful and I, for one, am still amazed by its wildlife and people.  But poverty is the norm today as more and more people flock from upcountry to the city to make a life for themselves, and drought and flood cause shortage in food and water. We can also see areas where there is spiritual poverty. I usually express this spiritual poverty like this "We are a people who are more afraid of the devil then we are of God." We trembled at the thought of a demon or witch doctor's curse but think nothing of breaking one of the ten commandments of God.

The Hope Foundation wishes to help people out of their physical poverty by providing fresh drinking water, food, medicine and education both to adults and children. But beyond that and most importantly, our greatest desire is to help people to overcome their spiritual poverty by providing the living water, the bread of life, the balm of Gilead and the study of God's Word.

By meeting both of these needs, I believe that we are following the guidelines given to us by Jesus Christ to save the lost and help the poor. God is still asking "Where are you?" to us. He wants to have an intimate relationship. with his creation. Are you one of his children? Will you help us to reach people and help them out of physical and spiritual poverty?

Working together we can do good and hopefully not harm our beautiful Kenyan way of life.