It is there, if we dare, or care, to look

I was talking with my fiancee on MSN (as we so often do because she is in Kenya now).  We were discussing different items that are in the news, and what makes the news in Canada and the U.S. and what makes the news in Kenya.  As small as the world has become, thanks to the travel industry and the internet, it is still a very large planet when it comes to news items.

The team at Transformed International is plugged into "Google News" feeds, and receives reports on everything that is happening in Kenya.  Thanks to the internet, it is so much easier to find out what is happening in the world if we dare to look, or even care about what is happening beyond our front door.  National news broadcasts are only going to give you what they deem to be news worthy, or what they think their audience will find interesting.  I understand that there are restrictions to the number of stories that can be told.  I understand that there may not be an interest in tourism rates increasing or decreasing in certain parts of the world.  Not everyone wants to know how the football (soccer) teams are doing in Tanzania.  I get that.

If you scan the headlines, you can find stories about people who need a better deal in life.  I have posted a link on this blog that tells the story of what is happening in the country I am about to enter.  It sheds a little light on the uphill battle that faces Kenya.  This story is the same story posted by the founder of TI on his blog.  I have also posted a link for those of you outside Canada, who may not have heard about a brutal and disgusting attack that took place on a bus traveling across the prairies just the other day.  I post it not to sensationalize the story, but to make you aware that Canada is not always the safest place to live.  Even though Canada is a relatively safe place to live, there are still actions by people that make us pause and wonder what goes through someone's head sometimes.

May you pause, and take time to be thankful for what you have.  May you come to realize that as small as the world is, it is still bigger than you.  May you find a way to get involved in a cause that is bigger than you.

Teen prostitution in Kenya

Stabbing on a bus in Manitoba

Ur of the Chaldeans

As I prepare to embark on a new chapter in life, I have been thinking about what it means to truly leave "the home of your family."  What I am doing is not a simple move across town.  It is not a move across the province, country, or even continent.  I am leaving to live half-way around the world.  I am leaving the "comforts" of North America, to live in the "comforts" of Africa.

I was recently listening to a message from a pastor in the U.S.  In his message he spoke about Abram (who eventually became Abraham), and how his call from God to leave his home, and family, was something completely earth shattering to Abram.  The start of Abram's story can be found in Genesis chaper 12.  The culture that Abram lived in was completely different than the life he would choose to live in when God called him.  Abram was living in a major city.  There was industry, and education.  People had places to worship to go to.  It is believed that Abram's father was an idol carver, and that Abram was his father's salesman.  The main god that was worshipped in Ur (Abram's home) was Nannar, the moon god, and the moon goddess, Ningar (you can find all of this out by doing a search on Google.  Try "ur of the chaldeans," "call of abram," etc...).

Abram leaving the home of his family was not just as easy as "pack up and go."  I think that we as English speaking North Americans miss the impact that this would have on Abram, and his family, and his community.  This was a call by a personal God to leave the history and tradition of impersonal gods.  This was a call for Abram to turn his back on all that he knew and understood, and go to a land he knew nothing about.

I am leaving a land of opportunity and wealth to live in a land that is considered impoverished.  I am leaving a country I know for a country that I don't know.  I am unsure as to what life in Kenya holds for me.  The gods that I am leaving here in Canada could be considered, by some, to be money, cars, houses, property, job, income, big screen televisions.  The list could go on.  I am going with the hopes of showing people in Kenya, that they matter.  I want them to see that the choices they make have an impact on their future, and the future of those around them.  I want them to know that they are loved, and that they have love to give.

Lofty goals?  Maybe.  Am I dreaming?  Maybe.  I have to step out in faith.  I have to believe that it is possible to make a difference.  No matter how small the change, it can make a huge difference down the road.  For now, I will walk under African skies...