When God Butts In

God interefered with me today. And as usual, my precious wife Amy fully supported his interference.

I just read the most recent update from ALARM Ministries on the humanitarian situation in Kenya. It is well-written: brief enough to digest in one sitting, but broad enough to touch on much of what's happening.

I know ALARM's ministry first-hand, being a friend of ALARM founder Celestin Musekura, as well as having travelled to Sudan and helped with ALARM-sponsored ministries several times. I have come to deeply appreciate ALARM's African-ness (it's an African ministry staffed by African Christians seeking to solve African problems), its contextualized operating philosophy, and the integrity of its leaders.

Celestine and myself in a newly-constructed library building built by ALARM in Sudan, December 2003

This latter point has opened some amazing doors in East Africa for ALARM to minister to many groups, including secular governments in Rwanda and Burundi. Now their reputation and integrity have opened some new opportunities in the current Kenyan crisis too, which you can read about at the bottom of their newsletter.

That's where God butted in to my morning. He caused me to weep for the current suffering in Kenya. As usual with major unrest, the poorest and weakest are afflicted most severely.

A resident of Nairobi's slums escapes riot-set fires with his 2 small children.

ALARM has a rare opportunity to let the gospel shine in Kenya right now, but it's stretching their resources. I, on the other hand, have a tax refund... a small pile of cash that I just deposited into our long-term savings. Now that savings account is part of a solid, wise financial plan I'm pursuing for the good of my family. We're working hard on that plan and it's going to take time to reach our goals. I don't like being slowed down. But I sensed that I should invest the lion's share of this tax return in a more eternal place, and let God supply the resources for my financial goals as he sees fit. Dang, now that's interference. I told Amy, half hoping she'd talk me into a lower number, but knowing she wouldn't.

She didn't.

Sometimes we hear about things like the unrest in Kenya and we don't know what to do. I'd like to be so bold as to suggest something you can do today: give toward ALARM's ministry in Kenya. You won't find an organization with more integrity or a more contextualized, effective way to live the gospel in the midst of pain.

I should mention that I have no affiliation with ALARM whatsoever, and I am making this appeal without their knowledge, and on my own initiative.