Full

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” John 4:31-38

This passage comes on the heels of the dialogue between Jesus and the woman at the well (one of my favorites in Scripture). A dialogue in which Jesus enters so forthrightly yet tenderly into this woman’s world. Like a surgeon’s scalpel, He cuts through race, ethnicity, gender, culture, religion and right into this woman’s heart. He reveals the depth of her thirst and the only thing that will satisfy--Him. 

I have sat down almost a dozen times to write this post. Once, I even finished it and perched my hand above the keyboard to press “finish” when all of a sudden it was gone. A wise woman told me that there must have been something I left out that the Lord wanted in. I think she was right.  I am using this as an introductory post to a series in which I attempt to download all the things I saw the Lord do in Kenya.

The need was so easy to see and meet there. In fact, there’s so much need that it can at times be overwhelming unless we anchor our hearts in the goodness and sovereignty of God. Even then, I think it’s a blessing to feel the weight of it--a blessed opportunity to experience the reality of living in the already but not yet.  It fuels our prayers and our sowing and reaping.

The impression I’ve been left with since being home has come in the form of a prayer. Lord, as my heart and days were full of doing “the will of him who sent me” in Kenya, may they be that way here. Give me eyes to see the need and the work there is to do around me--where you have planted me for now. Give me x-ray vision to see through the neatly manicured lawns, the crisp, freshly laundered wardrobes and nicely-kept homes and businesses to the deep-seated need. For I know that the fields are white for harvest.

More to come...