It was weird.
It made me think about Kenya.
What came to mind was one of the sermons I gave in Kakamega. About faith/faithfulness. I won't transcribe the whole thing. I don't think it was very good in the first place. But there were a few things I think are worth mentioning. First was this:
2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
Isn't that insane!? seriously. God remains faithful to us even when we are not. That is so contrary to our modern thinking. We are all about some "getting what you deserve". Think about that though, is that any way to live? As sinful people if we got what we deserved it would be eternal damnation. What's that called? Mercy. Another portion of the verse that seems to be everywhere in my life lately:
Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
To love mercy. We are shown mercy. God sent his son, Jesus, to die on a cross to save us. The ultimate act of mercy, to keep us from Hell. To die on a cross. Never has an act of such brutality been coupled with an act of such beauty.
Ok, after that tangent, I will get back on faithfulness. We are to live by faith, in faith, of faith:
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, for faith,as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
Faith in Jesus, our savior. Thats what we should have. Faith in him who is fully God and fully man. Faith is a powerful thing. We can do wonders with enough faith. take Mark 16:16-18. Embodied in that passage there is a good deal of controversy. People have differing opinions on such things, but thats what the Bible says so there you go.
Having faith isn't always easy. Take Matthew 14:22-33. The story of Jesus walking on the water. The disciples are in a boat (actually a side note about this passage. When Jesus sends the disciples to the boat, Jesus goes to the mountain to pray. Jesus goes off by himself to spend time with his father. Prayer is important. Super important. It was really important to the son of God, it is important to us.) So anyway, the disciples are on a boat and the sea is getting a bit rough. They see something out on the water and they think it is a ghost. It's Jesus, he tells the disciples "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." Peter immediately says "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." Which I have always seen as questioning Jesus. Peter is told to come out on the sea, and he does. For a while. Peter takes his eyes off Christ, sees the wind and the waves and begins to sink. Peter lost faith. Peter saw the bad stuff around him, he saw the danger and lost it. All too often we see the crap happening in our lives, and we lose faith. Things are bad, and we take our eyes off Christ. I think sometimes we think that our problems are too big. But our God is bigger than anything in this universe. After Peter begins to sink, he calls out: "Lord, save me." and here is what happens: Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Jesus immediately reaches out his hand. Immediately. Jesus didn't wait for Peter to learn his lesson, Jesus didn't wait a bit, to make Peter sweat. Jesus came to his aid berating Peter afterwards, but Jesus came to his aid. When we are one of those with little faith, we need to do nothing more than call out, the same as Peter, Lord, save me! Remember 2 Timothy 2:13: if we are faithless, he remains faithful.
So thats all I have for now. It is kinda crazy how finding a little elephant can spark a reflection of something like that. I dunno how all that works. But oh well. It is kinda crazy.
Here is a selection from "Ready to Start" By Arcade Fire, from their newest album "The Suburbs"
All the kids have always known
That the emperor wears no clothes
But to bow to down to them anyway
Is better than to be alone
If I was scared
I would
And if I was bored
You know I would
And if I was yours
But I'm not
