Orphans

God broke my heart on January 24, 2007.  This was our third day of teaching in Eldoret at Bishop Bondet’s Evangelistic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The theme was disciple making.  But before Dad taught his segment, we traveled to Reverend Ombima’s orphanage.  
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We walked down a dirt road too rutted to allow vehicle passage.  On the right side of the Kenyan clay open sewage flowed.  In that putrid water we walked past pigs happily foraging. Surrounding us were the homes of many squatters—families eking out a living in a destitute slum.  Finally we reached the property where World Revival Evangelistic Ministries (WOREM) five-year old Jireh orphanage is located. S.I. Ombima and his pregnant wife Metrine, humbly live here along with Sylvanus Mukhaima (Moses), their talented and inspiring 21 year-old worship leader.  

​As we entered the lot, to our left was a caved-in bathroom in awful state—the first indicator that these dear people had no functioning toilet. There were four buildings mainly constructed of cement blocks.  None of them had power, the majority of them leak when it rains and all of them consisted of dirt floors with minimal furniture.  Nine teachers (five of whom are paid) work at the orphanage with the 34 children.  Half of the kids, ranging in age from two to seventeen, have AIDs.   Among them are Muslim children who because of this ministry have found Christ.  Two children died last year and although it takes over a $1000 in monthly expenses to run Jireh, WOREM only receives about half that amount.  Although Ombima would like for the children to be sponsored (similar to organizations like World Vision and Compassion) currently none of the 34 receive monthly support.  Consequently, the children often miss meals and there is never enough money to buy clothing or bring repairs or necessary facility upgrades.
 
Meditation
James 1:27—Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 
 
Proverbs 14:21,31 says, “The one who despises his neighbor sins, but whoever shows kindness to the poor will be happy.  The one who oppresses the poor insults their Maker, but one who is kind to the needy honors Him.”  Jesus modeled what love looks like by becoming poor so we might become rich, by bringing good news to the hurting, by encouraging people to give to the needy and by healing the diseases of those with few resources.  (See 2 Corinthians 8:9; Matthew 11:5, 19:21; Luke 14:13).   
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As I study the Scripture I am consistently challenged to give away what will eventually burn to invest in what is eternal.  In studying the life of George Mueller, the famous German of amazing faith, I am amazed at the enormous opportunity of raising up disciple makers among orphans. Here is a needy group craving love that can be trained to become ambassadors to a starving world. We are making it a conscious part of our disciple making strategy to partner with orphanages by providing trainers who are able to teach English and train orphans to follow Jesus, the Author of Hope and Joy!  One day, Lord-willing, these precious children will themselves become trainers to others searching for meaning.  
 
©2007 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)