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People come on foot, loaded on flat bed trucks, squeezed into various un-roadworthy vehicles…..they stream in from near and far. Why? What draws them? They come for food, for Good News, for fellowship, and for healing. Some come because they are curious, some just follow the crowds hoping for some free food. |
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| As I work my way through the crowd, people stop me to show me their hungry bellies. I stop to hug a tiny girl whose shoulder blades stand out under her thin dress. At first she is shocked by my touch, and then she draws near. Over and over again, my hand is grasped by a little old lady. This year is different…I know some of them; what a gift to recognize friends amongst the crowds. Careful not to step on sleeping children and their mamas, I continue on my way, praying for God’s spirit to awaken the real hunger, to highlight the deeper need. |
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As night falls, we worship and dance together. The stage rocks as many feet bang out the rhythms. Heidi preaches. She dances her sermon, every now and then drawing someone in from the crowd. As she spoke about the Father’s love for each one of us, she addressed a woman in the crowd: ‘You mama, would you feed one of your children and starve the rest?’ Everyone laughs. There are no lesser children – he loves each one of us with the same love. |
| I was sitting in the dirt with some of the women. Beside me were the family we came to know through a car accident in December – a boy from a poor village suddenly known and prayed for all over the world – a boy raised to life after 3 days unconscious – a family wanting to know the life-giver – a village with a new church. ‘God’s ways are far above our ways!’ | |
| On my other side some women are dozing. Heidi has also noticed and makes her way across the stage saying, ‘Wake up the sleepers, wake them up!’ This news is too good to miss. She begins to stretch her hands up and says ‘God loves you’ and, fixing her eyes on one, draws his attention to the one beside him: ‘You love her.’ That’s how it works. As God’s love fills you, you can turn to the one beside you and love him. Simple truth, but we cannot skip the first step. Without God’s love filling me, I have nothing to offer the hungry child, the desperate grandma or the drunk old man. |
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Every night, there are miracles. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk. The people have no other place to go, and in his mercy, he hears their desperate cries. At night, men, women, and children stretch out on some poles, or on the dirt, and sleep. Their bellies are full because today they have eaten; their hearts are full because they have heard good news; for many, their sleep is deeper because they are not in pain. They got what they came for. Pray for lasting fruit in their lives. |
