Agape Love Half a World Away

We have just completed our 4th trip to Zambia to participate in Camp LIFE and it was as heart filling as any previous trip.  Today I want to tell you how Love Transcends Oceans, continents, languages and cultures.

Each year at Camp LIFE we spend a day in the slum compound of Matero where our kids live.  It is a day of us watching and supporting our children as they spread the gospel of Jesus in their communities.

The Background

This year the boy I am talking about is Katisha.  I have adopted him in my heart as a son in Zambia.  He was one of my camp boys in 2014 and I sponsored him into school at the Legacy Academy in Matero.  He was 11 years old when I sponsored him.  He has since grown to a handsome 15 year old young man that has excelled in school and is now doing grade 8.

I have seen him in Camp LIFE for the past 3 years but because of his success in school and the advancement to grade 8 he has “aged out” of camp.  So I did not see him in camp this summer.

My assumption was that I would see him when we toured his school on this Thursday in Matero.

Much to my surprise and delight his school was on holiday and he had walked across town to meet me as we went out with the other campers!

Each of us go our own way from our meeting spot in an open lot…

• Me with 10 boys plus the unexpected addition of Katisha.
• Hannah goes with her 11 girls.
• Renay with her 10 girls.

When Love Transcends Oceans

We had been out for a short while and were walking down a dirt street that runs through many of the homes we were visiting.  Me and my group were meandering along as we looked for the next house to stop and witness to when I heard the sound of Hannah’s voice behind me a ways.

She had not seen us or Katisha nor had he seen her or noticed her voice behind us.  I stopped and turned around to see Hannah and also called out to Katisha “Auntie Hannah, Auntie Hannah”.

What took place in the next few minutes confirmed that we were in the right place, at the right time for the right reason.

The Revelation of God’s Pure Love

As Hannah sprinted toward us with a smile and a look in her eyes of pure joy and Katisha sprinted toward her with the same gusto, I was consumed with the power of God’s love.  Consumed with the fact He calls all of us his children, brothers and sister regardless of boundaries or color.

So Hannah is running with arms wide open for nearly 100 yards down a dusty, trashy, dirty trail in the middle of a slum 13,000 miles from the comfort of home to greet her brother she has not seen in a year!  It was one of the purest moments I have ever experienced.

We are grateful for the experiences and transformation this mission provides every year.  God peels back the scales on our eyes that develop throughout the year and provides clarity and hope in a broken world.

God is our Father and He loves us!

1 John 3:1

1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

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