It’s now 2 days after the (alleged) rapture was supposed to happen and from what I see everyone is still here. So I guess it’s business as usual…or if you were a bit scared and thinking “where will I be?” maybe you should rethink your “business as usual” stance and seek God’s wisdom and truth. Even though I did not think the rapture was going to happen at that humanly appointed time (no one knows the day – Matthew 24) this is something I pray for daily…God’s wisdom, will, purpose and truth to be apparent in my life.
That brings me to a conversation I had at the Academy on Saturday with a few of the Class 8 girls. They asked me what I thought about rapture and the end of the world (why is it I seem to always think of that R.E.M. song…it’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine when I hear talk of the end of the world!?) anyway I was able to talk with them about this scripture and really none of them believed May 21st was the day…praise God!
That’s kind of a short aside to get to the blog post today because also during that talk they asked me about Mercy orphanage. When I told them we were not allowed on the property because the “owners” lack of care for the kids had been brought out in the open, they were upset. They couldn’t believe a guy, a preacher on tv no less, spouting the love of Jesus could show such disregard for the kids and not take care of them. They asked about the guys wife and we’ve been told she’s about the same as her husband. Again they couldn’t believe someone who sang such beautiful gospel songs could act that way. One girl said “she should move into a smaller house and then help the kids.” Another simply said “hypocrite”. Ahh the logic and forthrightness of a child (Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you must change and become like little children. Otherwise, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3) Maybe one of these girls, or both, will make a difference in their country!
That conversation led us to discuss the saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover” and encouraging the girls to look at a person’s actions not just their words. We talked about how telling someone something but not following through hurts the relationship by damaging the trust between those two people. It’s the same with preachers here in Kenya and all over the world, see how they are living before making any sort of judgement solely on the sweet words they use or how nice they dress. By citing some personal examples it seems the message was getting through and they were understanding. Then the next morning this was part of my daily reading:
Stop judging by the way things look, but judge by what is really right. (John 7:24 NCV)
I’ll have to mention this verse to the girls the next time I see them.