Saturday, March 30, 2013

Easter bunnies and all


Dear Friends,

As Christians from around the world this weekend remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is always good to reflect on how events leading to the death of Christ left an indelible mark in our lives. Please allow me to indulge a little bit…  I am in awe of how during the time Jesus Christ walked on earth doing so many wonderful things to bring us as humans to the full knowledge of Our Father in Heaven. The various acts of kindness, the miracles, healings and the ultimate sacrifice at the cross of Calvary were all for us.

Many of you may have watched the movie the Passion of the Christ directed by Hollywood actor Mel Gibson and in it details of the death of Christ, the struggles and His constant prayers to God for mercy on His people showed a selfless love for us. I am eternally grateful to God for sending His only begotten Son so that through Him we would be cleansed of our sin and that we would one day be promoted to greater glory in heaven.

Now the choice is always up to us. How do we want to spend our days on earth? What impact do we want to make on the lives of fellow human beings? And what lasting legacy do we want to leave behind? Thousands of years later, here we are remembering the self less love that was shown to us. This really does not matter whether you are saved or not. The gospel of Christ came so that we would learn the truth and the truth would set us free.

Quoting from Our Daily Bread today Those who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus saw His hours of agony and heard Him cry out in a loud voice, “It is finished!” as He gave up His spirit (John 19:30). His final words from the cross were not a cry of painful defeat but a shout of triumph, because He had accomplished all that the Father sent Him to do.
When Jesus died, He shared in what all of us must experience. But far beyond that, He did what none of us can do. He paid the price for our sins that we might be forgiven and have eternal life through faith in Him.
“It is finished!” was the Lord’s shout of victory because now, through Him, we can escape the power of sin; we can live and be free.”

It is finished! —John 19:30

I for one do not want to be left out, through struggles, pain and sacrifices I want to make a difference n this world. Reach out to the orphans, to the vulnerable communities, widows and those that have no one to look up to and be there to support them. You too, in whatever way can be that difference in the life of someone today just as the life of one person who paid the ultimate sacrifice of death for all of us. Lord Jesus, thank you for leaving a truly lasting legacy!

It does not matter the kind of car I drive, the type of house I live in nor the size of my bank account, what is important to me is to ensure that I leave a lasting legacy for generations. Join me in this quest!
 God gives us all we need, so we can give to others in their need!

God bless you!

Patrick

Thursday, March 7, 2013

A year later 2SOL!


Dear Friends,

Growing up in a Christian home, going to church, attending Sunday school and as I personally accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour I came across a lot of miracles and faith enhancers. Always being prayerful and wanting to always being connected to my Maker and align my life to God’s will and purpose for my existence on earth has been my one and single most important journey. As I reflect on various events in my life, I share today one of the most interesting events that created new relationships, partnerships and a deeper measure of  faith and love for our Lord.

As the journey of my life continued in 2012, I was on a path of rediscovery after some of the most disturbing ordeals in my professional life had occurred in the 2 years prior to 2012. In From December 2011 to January 2012 I was vigilantly praying, seeking the face of God and praying for a more clearer picture of what He intended me to do since the events in the two years mentioned above had left me very confused. The Spirit of God continued to impress in my heart that I had to work with children, youth and communities that were vulnerable and to bring about peace, hope and encouragement through deeds and the word of God. That was easier said than done. As I worked with close friends and the Board of Trustees of Nhaka Foundation to model the organization and continue doing the work we had begun in 2008, it became clearer that we had to ensure that God was at the forefront of the work we did. Herein lay the problem. With over ten years experience working for both local and international non profit organizations, it was always difficult to secure funding for organizations deemed to be religiously based or put more clearly, organizations whose leadership and way of operation was aligned to a particular set of beliefs etc and in our case being Christian. The more we sought funding in 2011 as a Christian organization the more “your proposal is technically good, solid and a clear sustainable model to implement but unfortunately….” email rejections for funding we received. During this time I would continue praying to God seeking a clear answer and indication that this was the way to continue. I reached a point in December 2011 that I had had enough of these rejections, was in a terrible mental state and was as always trying to figure everything out, when I decided to set a challenge with my Maker to really be sure that this was what I was supposed to be doing. One morning I decided to ask God for a very simple thing “ if this is what you want me to do, can you please show me through some way that there are people out there, specifically Christians that you are raising up to support the work we are doing and also for Christians to rise up and take our role as Christians and support orphans, widows and those in distress.” This became the prayer on my heart for months to come.

On the 7th of March 2012, I was driving from Mutare, a city about 250 kilometres east of Harare where I had gone to do a bit of research on organizations working in the early childhood development sector. Just before I got to the junction that leads to our home, I got a call from my friend Karl and this call led to a chain of events that forever changed my life. He had just welcomed  “a young bunch of Americans” and wanted me to meet with them because he thought I could be of some assistance to them. Driving to meet with them I was saying Lord I am tired I just need to rest, can I just phone them and turn back and meet them tomorrow? No, keep driving! As I drove I was thinking about all the things God had placed on my heart about the work we were to do as an organization and the promises that seemed far-fetched. Meeting with Kelsey Hare, Christie Heimbach and Daniel Vaichus was such a God planned, organized and executed appointment. As these 3 narrated their story and how God had told them to go to Zimbabwe because there was some work for them I just couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my cheeks…As Kelsey and Christie excitedly spoke about the events of the past two weeks prior to their departure for Zimbabwe, I felt God saying to me “you wanted a confirmation? Here is your confirmation!” The rest as they say is history.

I am writing this blog today just to help someone out there, God does hear our prayers and knows what we desire each and everyday. We need to be persistent in our prayers. Like Apostle Paul said “we should pray without ceasing”. That meeting led to us spending a busy few days, moving them out to our house for accommodation, setting up appointments and meetings with various non profits, showing them Harare and going to church together. All this did not make sense to me because they arrived on a Thursday afternoon towards end of day and on a Friday most organizations close off at 1pm so it didn’t make sense why they had chosen to arrive at that time and not have much time to see and talk to a lot of other people. They only had Monday as the full working day before leaving for the US on the Tuesday. I realised months later that because it was orchestrated and planned by God, it really did not have to make sense to my human mind. In hindsight everything started making sense and the will of God to this day continues to be revealed. This is really just an abridged version of this life changing experience.

Exactly a year later Nhaka Foundation and 2 Seconds or Less (2SOL) has a remarkable relationship based on trust, accountability, integrity and our faith in God.  We are working in 2 schools now changing the lives of hundreds of children through our programming and belief in the Word and power of God. Though we are thousands of miles apart with our counterparts the divine connection and link makes this distance seemingly small. We are preparing for the third visit by Team 2SOL and proud of the partnership that is growing.

God has been faithful all the way since then, 90% of our current funding is coming from Christian funders both individual and organizational. A sharp contrast to funding experiences I have had. God must really have a funny sense of humour!

Friends, be encouraged and may God meet you at your point of need. We pray not to obtain our will in heaven, but to effect God’s will on earth.

Blessings,

Patrick