The Day Before Yesterday

Crying inside, mad at myself, angry at God.

My alarm didn’t go off today, not that I slept through it, or hat I didn’t set one, it didn’t go off and I slept right up until we had to leave. I missed breakfast, the fellowship and conversation of the team, and barely caught the morning devotional. I spent all my time this morning, which wasn’t much, writing and attempting to relay my thoughts. I had someone grab me a few slices of plain bread to eat so I wouldn’t pass out today. Mike Partain bought me a Mountain Dew, sweet man, and we hit the road with fire in our bellies for the work ahead.

We were greeted at hope by 13 happy, healthy African children! They sang us a song and the hope on their faces: you couldn’t help but smile in return. They blessed us with several songs that they sang and we sang with them. These kids are our legacy, they will continue our work here, and seeing the growth in them in just a year, it’s amazing! There were more than a few tears shed among the team, especially among the members who had never seen these kids, their love for total strangers. God used these kids to a blessing when we thought we came to bless them.

Due to our ministry’s regulation on media on Hope property, only the media authorized members of the team were allowed to capture footage of this. So none of this was taken by myself.

One of the first things you’ll notice after staying on Hope property for a decent length of time is that there is not a bathroom at Hope, but there is a pit toilet.

Pit toilet: a concrete room with a single hole in the floor, sitting on top of a large pit in the ground.

Essentially it’s a stripped down porta-potty. You will never meet a greater “hold your breath challenge” than when you use a pit toilet.

The women’s ministry that the ladies of the team went to accomplish was as much a blessing to our women as it was to the Ugandans. Mom told a story after the conference of how they gave each of the 180 women a gift, some hotel soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. Something as small and insignificant as that could be used in such a powerful way! As the story goes, there was a group of women laughing after the conference. Mom went over to ask them why they were laughing and it was because they had never smelled anything as good as soap before. They were so happy they couldn’t stop laughing. Something as small as soap could bring something as big as hope to these women.

In other news, the team from Atlanta finally arrived at Hope! Now all except Vicki are here safe and sound. We are still praying Vicki arrives quickly and in good spirits to begin ministering to the people of Uganda! The luggage of the Atlanta team is lost somewhere between here and Washington D.C.. We hope it finds its way here soon as many of the medical supplies are in the luggage.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

The Beauty Around Us

I have a crazy weird and very hectic life currently. A few days ago I posted about how we lifted a refrigerator through a window on our bus as part of the construction project to build the entire interior. That’s been enough to keep us busy for a long time, but add to that travel, and concerts, and sleeping arrangements, and an impending Uganda Missions Trip and you have a busy life. Looking forward to Uganda though; this trip will be upon us in a matter of weeks. Right now I’m finding a bit of calm amid the storm in appreciating the specific beauty of nature God has gifted the vast diversity of the US. Appreciating the green and the life and the vibrancy of colors and creatures that we have the privilege to gaze upon and live amongst.

Nature was meant to be observed, studied, and appreciated because it points us to the Creator and exhibits His majesty and great power! Creation cries out, “There is a God!”. It’s inescapable. To walk on this earth, among God’s marvelous handiwork is grace and it is divine revelation of His nature and essence. It point us to the one we should serve and love for His goodness to the most despicable of His creatures. We all need a savior. That’s why we’re going to Africa to preach about Him and teach others how to follow Him.

They can see Him in creation, they know He exists, they just don’t know how to believe, they don’t know Him as anything but the Creator. We go to tell them that He is the Lord and Savior of every man. God is in creation. He is all around us and in us and through us, but until we allow Him to become Lord of us we can’t truly know Him as He is. We see Him in the bees, in the clover, in the grass, in the leaves, in the sky, and in the trees. Learn about them, look at them with fresh eyes of wonder for the handiwork of the Creator.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

Urgent Prayer Request!

Rachel Sutton, one of the missionaries that my family ministry has sent to Uganda, Africa is ill with a very serious case of Malaria.

Recently, after having lived in Uganda for three months now, Rachel and Andrew Sutton both fell sick with Malaria. It was what is known as type 1 Malaria and can be eradicated, unlike type 2, which is a virus that attaches itself to your blood. Thank God that it was the lesser of the two evils. But, after Rachel had assumedly gotten rid of the Malaria, it suddenly flared up again a few days ago and she was taken to the hospital. They ran some tests and discovered that she not only had Malaria, but also Typhoid. She has been miserable for the last week, and to make matters worse, it is Summer in Uganda currently and the heat is intense. It is not at all a pleasant situation, and the hospital care in a developing country is nowhere near that of our hospitals in the US.

On behalf of The Allen Family and Hope Missions International, I ask you to be in prayer for Rachel and the entire Sutton family. Being sick and having a wife who is sick has caused Andrew to have to halt progress on Hope Children’s Village and Rachel cannot teach currently. This isn’t exactly the life a missionary dreams of, and we are definitely seeing a difficult side of Uganda and mission work. However, in anything we do for the Lord we will face opposition, and the greater the work, the greater the opposition will be. This is simply an inconvenience to the Suttons and an impedance to the work in Uganda that serves as confirmation of our callings rather than discouragement.

And, I don’t mean to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Malaria and Typhoid are dangerous and prevalent this time of year in Africa, they can cause lasting problems if not cared for and treated properly and quickly. Rachel’s case has been largely undetected for a while and is very strong. We pray against any lasting effects of this illness from befalling her and that God would use this as a tool to bring others to Him. We pray that His power would be magnified in Rachel’s life and that He would remove this from her. We also pray that God would protect the Sutton girls and the Hope children from falling sick.

None of this scares me in the least about taking the trip to Uganda this July. If anything, it encourages me. What great things God must be doing if the devil is trying this hard to prevent them! I can’t wait to be a part of His work there. I know that He’ll protect me if I’m in His will. I will follow, I will follow; where He leads me I will follow. I will fear no death, or darkling shadows; only trusting, I will follow.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

Missions Update

This is the first unit of Hope Children’s Village, an orphanage in Uganda, Africa. Our ministry has been partnering with Ugandan nationals to do great things for God in Uganda. You can learn more about my family’s mission work in Uganda, and about the country itself at our new website that I helped build: www.buildingwithhope.com

The pastor whom we work with in Uganda, his name is Sam, was in a very serious motorcycle accident yesterday. Sam was driving on his motorcycle and another man, whom witnesses say was trying to show off for his girlfriend, hit Sam’s cycle with the one he was driving. Now, at this point, no one was seriously hurt, but the two men were sitting on their cycles and things were getting heated between them. Then, from nowhere, another motorcycle crashed into both of them.

The last we knew, Sam was unconscious and taken to a hospital nearby. The hospital said that he may have broken ribs, a possible concussion of some kind, and a broken wrist. He also may have some internal bleeding in his head. However, this hospital didn’t have an X-Ray machine or a CT scanner. While Sam was at the hospital, his wife, Ruth called our missionaries on the field there in Uganda, the Sutton Family, and they immediately went to be with Sam at the hospital.

Since that hospital didn’t have the proper equipment to help Sam the Suttons drove him to a hospital that did. But the power wasn’t working at that hospital, and they didn’t have a generator to power their X-Ray machine or CT scanner. So, the Suttons drove Sam back to the other hospital, which did have a generator, but just didn’t have any of the proper equipment. Currently, they’re waiting for the power to return, and the hospital with the generator is keeping Sam stable.

Mom did get an email from Sam yesterday afternoon, so he is conscious, he thinks he has broken ribs, he says his head hurts, and his left wrist hurts as well. The situation isn’t good, but it could be worse. Keep Sam in your prayers as you pray for the ministry work going on in Uganda, Africa.

You can find out more about the Suttons and their ministry in Uganda at www.suttonsonmission.org and you can follow our ministry page on Facebook for more updates on Sam.

As always, thanks for reading.

—the anonymous novelist

In The Interest Of Full Disclosure

Mom and Dad get back today. We have survived without them in Florida for the last 10 days, and are now traveling to Louisiana for a concert this evening.

We stayed with our adopted Grandparents for the ten days that Mom and Dad were in Uganda, and only had to perform one concert without them; that concert was yesterday morning. It’s definitely a different dimension to sing without the extra two balancing voices of our group. Without Mom and Dad we have one alto, one soprano, a bass, and two leads, (sometimes three), so the adjustment of volumes for parts is more difficult for the sound guy, (me). 

It’s also been different to sing parts and verses of songs that we’ve never, or have very rarely, sang in concert. There is an adjustment for our concerts, but it’s also an adjustment to live without the managers of the family. Most of us are capable of looking out for ourselves, but very few have the awareness and frame of mind to take initiative and look out for the others. Without a set force to take measure and set the rules and plans, a loose schedule is adopted and followed even looser. 

Not many of us children are yet old enough to be self-motivated for the sake of keeping food on the table and clothes on our backs. We’ve never had to worry about certain things; but now that we’re on our own, so to speak, we get to really experience, at the very least in a small portion, what life is like.

It’s been a rude awakening, and by that I mean we slept in ’til all hours of the afternoon, and stayed up late doing… Really nothing. Well, I say that, but Josh was able to edit a music video he filmed, and I signed contracts with a publishing company to get my first project in your hands! It’s been productive, but perhaps we could’ve utilized our time better and more efficiently with someone giving commands and knowing what is needed to be accomplished. 

It’s been fun, it’s been wild, but it’s about to end, then life goes back to normal… Haha, well I say normal; really, normal for us is just crazy and bizarre. But our parents return today and a bit of balance will return with them. 

The bus that we are intent on purchasing is a shell that we will have to build as we travel in it, and things will fall into place rapidly once Mom and Dad hit the ground in the US today. It’s going to be a wild ride and I’ll keep you posted.

As always, thanks for reading.

—the anonymous novelist

Commencement

  Commencement: the end of one thing, the beginning of another. 

I watched as my two cousins, Andrew and Rachel Sutton, and their four young girls were commissioned by their home church to become missionaries to the country of Uganda, Africa. Missions has been something that God has moved in their hearts to do for many years, but Uganda specifically in the last 9 or 10 months.

I have had the privilege of seeing a calling from God, the steps He placed before them to take, and the fulfillment of His faithfulness as they were official sent off by their church. I’ve seen the whole process and I just sat back and said, “wow”! It is truly amazing how God worked all things together for this good, this goal. The Sovreignty of God is magnificent!

To see these two people commit their lives to Christ in such a way: it is energizing, it is convicting, it is inspiring, all at the same time. I want to do what they’re doing, I want to feel what they’re feeling, I want to live my life for Christ in a way to make people notice.

The fire for Christ that would drive someone to forsake all that they know to follow Him to the uttermost: I want to have that. I want to own a faith unbound. I want to walk worthy of the calling wherewith I have been called. In His letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul put it this way:

That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

-1 Thessalonians 2:12

Walk worthy of the calling. It’s not something we have earned, and we can see that it is a high calling and costly by the use of words. We strive for the prize, we press toward the mark for the high calling in Christ Jesus.

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

-2 Timothy 1:9

Before the world began… God purposed the plot of your life before the world began. Your story, bathed in grace sprang from the pages of your own writing. You hold the pen, but God built the pages. You write the body, but God ends the chapters. We have been called because God chose our stories to be the best ones for the task. Your past has a great deal to do with your present; if the past choices you have learned from yielded growth in your life, it is in those areas your future is mostly likely to occur. God prepares those He calls according to His purpose.

I would be remiss if I did not include this verse in relation to missions. 

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

-Mark 16:15

The command was to go, and that is exactly what the Sutton family is doing. I’m impressed, I’m surprised, and I’m inspired to follow Him with this kind a radical faith. What about you?

As always, thanks for reading. 

—the anonymous novelist 

A Cordial Farewell

NEWS HOST: Welcome everyone to the farewell broadcast of AMNN. Now stay in your seats and when you stop yelling for joy, I’ll continue…. Thank you all for a wonderful year, it’s been great. I’m going live to Bob, who if you haven’t figured it out by now, is a single person, if a bit schizophrenic. Bob, tell us what you’ve learned.
BOB: Hello, Jared. It’s good to be back on the air. As I was riding behind them on a jump seat– a seat that folds out from the one beside it, blocking the aisle and leaving the passenger no leg room–, I overheard Michelle Allen talking to Mike Cash about how everything came to be in Uganda. 

MIKE: So, this is y’all’s third time in Uganda? Or fourth?

MICHELLE: This is mine and Todd’s fourth.

MIKE: How did you pick Uganda?

MICHELLE: January of 2011 we just felt like God was calling us here. We were singing at a church in Arizona and the pastor had been taking trips to Uganda. He recommended it to us. 

BOB NOTE: That pastor actually helped establish CDI, the organization that Todd Allen Family Ministries works with in Uganda.

MICHELLE: Todd and I took a vision trip later that year and we just knew that was where we needed to be. We have been coming back ever since.

BOB: I was able to talk to Michelle earlier, or rather, overhear her talking earlier and this is what she said.

MICHELLE: I have always, since I was a little girl, wanted to be a missionary in Africa. Now, God has made my dream come true.

BOB: So, that’s how everything came to be. 

NEWS HOST: Intriguing… How was you day Bob?

BOB: It was long, and it’s still going. Technically, if we’re going by waking hours, this day won’t end for another 30. The plane flights are a total of 19 hours, and because of the time zone difference, we get back on the afternoon of the day we left. So, that day will have to be lived out again, and when all is said and done, it turns out to be about a 42 hour day.

NEWS HOST: Mathematically, that just doesn’t sound right… How are you figuring 42 hours?

BOB: We woke up at 6:00 this morning, it’s 8:30 now; that’s 14 hours. We fly out at 1:00, from now ’til then is 3 hours. The flights are 19 and once we land, it’s another 6 before nightfall. 14+3+19+6=42, that’s a really long day.

NEWS HOST: Oh, I agree. I hope you enjoy it, I’ll be sleeping for 21 of those hours at least. So, what else is there to tell about the day, other than its length?

BOB: Well, the entire team, plus Sam and his family, took a morning Safari today, and then went up to Murchinson Falls. Which is a 21 foot water fall on the Nile River.   

 It was the first time Sam and his family had ever done anything like this before. Last night we had taken a river safari, that was the first time Sam’s wife Ruth had ever been on a boat. It was a neat experience for everyone, and we saw some great stuff.
NEWS HOST: How is everyone holding up?

BOB: To be honest, we’re all pretty tired. Everyone is missing home, some more than others. Isn’t that right, Wes.

WES: ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz…

BOB: Yep, we’re tired alright. But, it’s a good tired, we know that we did what we came here to do, and are fulfilled. 

NEWS HOST: Well, that’s all for this year, folks. It’s been great. If you’d like information of the work going on in Uganda, or would like to go with The Allen Family on a trip, click here. Thanks for tuning into AMNN. I’m Jared Allen, signing off.

Looking Towards Home

The trip has been long and productive. Friendships were made and strengthened, and we all have grown in our spirits. The weariness that now overtakes us is proof of our labor in the work of the Kingdom. 

The Kingdom…
Mikael drew his war hammer from its holster at his side. He hefted the weapon, tossing it upon his hand. Turning then, to face the evil creatures before him, he swung the hammer at the head of the army of Elis. His righteous weapon clove through the line of foul beings, driving the forces back. Beside Mikael stood his stalwart commander, Davin, whose quick blade had saved Mikael’s life on many occasions. Davin stepped up to the front of the battle lines and called all of his troops to the charge. 

The small group of warriors pressed through the throng of Elis, Dripe, and Aref, ridding the ground of their eternal evil. The prize was before them, the Kingdom: home. The warriors threw themselves into the fray with reckless abandoned. Westland took the lead standing by his sister, Marivale. They fought heroically, like their parents, the great Robar and Debira, who stood behind them with pride in eyes. Westland and Marivale were rising warriors and under the training of some of the fiercest soldiers alive. They fought back to back, protecting each other from the blades of the attackers. Then the rains came. 

Arrows as thick as rain began to fall, one caught Marivale in the leg and she went down. Marivale’s parents were there within seconds, tending her wound and speaking words of encouragement to her.

Another arrow struck a young man named Zachabin in the arm, disabling him for a time. Pamina, a healer by trade, but a warrior at heart stood up in his place and fought valiantly with weapons she was unaccustomed to. Vickela, or Crown Vik as she was called, scampered beneath the line of sight of the minions. Her height was so slight that she could go virtually unnoticed amongst the crowd of combatants. She may have been small, but the axe which she held in her hand felled more than trees that day. But, in spite of their valiant efforts, the arrows still came, striking others like Mikael. He simply bull roared through it and barreled deeper into enemy lines. But, if something was not done soon, the lines of the Kingdom Warriors would fall and crumble, bespeaking defeat and death for the villagers of the Outerlands.

As the next hail of arrows whizzed from the strings of a thousand bows, five massive shields went up above the group of warriors. The arrows glanced harmlessly off the slick hides of the shields and fell to the ground to be trampled under foot. 

Bob looked up to see who the saviors were. He saw Darv, Davin’s father and the Prince of Oak Grove, leading a shield army of reinforcements to the aid of the main troop. With Prince Darv were five of his strongest fighters, his daughter Rochelle, Anderar, Darryl, a young but powerful knight, and the husband and wife team of Rogan and Kari. 

These five troops, led by Darv held a wall of shields above the warrior troop to protect them from the fiery darts of the enemy as the warriors blazed toward the gates of the Kingdom.

Davin sounded the call and the flank of the minion army was hit by the clan of Alleis. The crazed norse people of the clan ripped through the minions, tearing down Elis, and cutting off the heads of Aref. Their bright claymores were brandished high as the fell upon the enemy with a hatred. The Alleis clan were many and fought for the protection of the Outlander children, whom these evil minions had waged war against.

The lines of evil soon broke under the fury of the Alleis clan and the warriors of Davin. The small army of Kingdom Warriors chased and scattered the remnant forces far away, never to be seen again in these lands. The people of the Outlands were free from the oppression of the vices and praised the Lord of The Golden Kingdom for the mighty war he had won.

Now, the gate was opened, and the Kingdom would receive all who would enter. The Kingdom warriors had fought a good fight, they were weary and tired. Slowly, they approached the gates of The Golden Kingdom. At the gate stood the Prince of Glory who spoke to them saying, “well done, my good and faithful servants. Enter into the joys of thy Lord”. One by one they stepped through the gate and into the glorious kingdom; at last, they were home.

Bob looked upon it all with wonder, all he had brought to fight with were a pencil and a sheet of paper. Maybe he could give a Dripe a paper cut. What he had to fight with seemed so feeble and insignificant compared to the others… What could he do? He was not a mighty warrior, or a leader, or even a squire. He dropped his gaze down and sadly stared at his bank paper and sharpened pencil. Then, he had an idea! He could give an Elis lead poisoning! No… That was no good. Besides, the Elis were all gone anyway, banished by the Kingdom Warriors. Then he had a good idea. He could write down the tale of the victory as a reminder of what great things the power of the King had wrought that day. 

And in some small, insignificant way, maybe he could be great too. All for the Kingdom…

The Kingdom…

Wow, I must’ve been daydreaming. Well, anyway, the work has been going very well, and like I said, we are all very worn out. But, we can see the lights of home, our eyes are fixed upon the prize, and by God’s grace we will make it there. Great will be the reward in heaven for the faithful few who took this trip in response to God’s call. Many people outside of the realm of Christianity and church have been brought to the knowledge of the gospel. We leave our work in the hands of the Holy Ghost to convict, convince, and convert these that have been touched with the Word. 

As the team looks toward America as the resting place, a place called home. Many Africans now look to Heaven as the resting place, a place called… Home.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

One More Update

The village is called Angopet. It is in the sub-county
Gweri, in the Soroti district. This is the village where we will be distributing 150 water filtration system to people who have never had a clean source of water.  

We began by gathering at a PAG, (Pentecostal Assembly of God), church far from the village of Angopet. Many people traveled many miles to get to this place, and this is the closest church around. Gathered here in this hallowed brick structure, a humble home for the house of God, are more than 70 families and a group of nursery to primary school students. 

We have chosen this environment as an assembly hall to tell the people of the clean water and also to tell them of the Water of Life. The water filters are the light to draw them in, and the gospel is the life to indwell and reconcile them to God.

After the main assembly the team split into groups to minister to the children from a nearby school. The school, St. Marylin’s, was directly beside the church building and had over 50 students enrolled. The building itself was little more than a long brick building with several, segregated and open-aired rooms.

Myself, Dalynn, Josh, Andrew, and Rachel went to work among the teens and older children beneath a shade tree. Some of the children’s ministry team: Abby, Marisa, Mrs. Karen, Christian, Wes, and Victoria are meeting with the younger children beneath another tree. I can hear them and see them from here.

Our team began by having Josh give a gospel illustration where he will cut a rope and then restore it. Dalynn followed with a testimony of how he was saved at the age of 5. Rachel have her testimony next, after which Andrew preached on Nicodemus and being born again. 

Currently, Josh is presenting an illustration called, “The Rat Trap”. This illustration is about how easy it is to get trapped in sin. Josh uses a stick to prod around the rat trap, which he calls, “The Sin Trap”, slowly getting closer to the trigger. As he moves the stick around, he tells the crowd about the ways we can fall into sin until we get trapped. As he says it he hits the trigger with the stick, trapping the stick beneath the bar.

After he finishes with that part of the illustration, he calls a member from the group to volunteer and then proceeds to have them hold up their index finger. Grabbing the person’s wrist, he attempts to touch their finger to the trigger and pull it away before the trap snaps down. After faking several times, he thrusts the person’s finger onto the trigger and the crowd gasps as the look and realize that the trap was not even set. Josh uses this to explain how, when Jesus lives within us, we may still fall into sin, but He can take the sting out of sin.

For a big finish, he proves to the crowd that he is fast enough to touch the trigger and get out in time when the trap is set. One time when he did that, a team member leaned over and whispered in my ear, “trusting Jesus can take the sting out of sin, but if your fast enough you can avoid it altogether.” I laughed. Just because we’re on a mission trip doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. 

We sang songs and gave them each a gift of a bracelet with the colors of faith on it, explaining to them what each color meant. We left them with an invitation to come to Christ.

The team which stayed at the assembly hall began water filter distribution as we were speaking to the youth and children. The next thing on the agenda is that after lunch we will break into teams for evangelism.

If you gauge success in evangelism upon how many professions of faith were made, then we did very poorly. However, if evangelism is lifting high and proclaiming Christ, we succeeded. Jesus said:

John 12:32 

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

All we did was lift Christ up and trusted Him for the rest. 

As alway, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

It’s All About Me

I thought about making this post an exposé of how on a mission trip it’s not all about me. But, then I thought: nah. What’s the fun in that? I really do want this post to be about me, and I think, by the end of it you might agree with my decision. 

In our room we have something that no one else from our team has: our shower head has a pressure regulator. It didn’t start with one, but a few days ago Wes helped install one for us. The shower is set up with a fixed overhead faucet that is attached to the main pipeline on the wall, and a corded, hand-held shower head that is activated by sliding out a knob on the side of the main pipeline. Well, the knob broke off while in the corded shower mode and Wes wanted to use the overhead. He tried to push the knob back in, but it wouldn’t go. So, he used the back of the hand-held piece as a hammer, and banged on the knob. After a few hits, he busted a hole in the back of the shower head.

 
Now, water spurts from that hole in the back as well as raining from the front. To control the PSI of the shower water, you can hold your thumb over the hole and it will increase the flow, or remove it, and decrease the flow. Perks like pressure regulators only come to those in the blessed rooms. Wes has been a real blessing.
I actually did mean that last statement. He has been a jack-of-all-trades on this trip: helping out with the construction, working with kids and teens, working in the hospital, and doing general evangelism. He has been an encouragement to me, and I thank God for him on this trip.

The other things that have been going on with me lately are more of general updates than anything else. Today was the Compassion children day. Many of the team members sponsor children through Compassion International. By corresponding with the Ugandan workers, we were able to arrange for most of those children to spend a day with us at Akello. The children from Hope came also, we gave them gifts, organized a sort of carnival for them to win prizes for games, and made things out of pipe cleaners. It was a fun time for the kids to get to spend a day with the person responsible for their food, care, and exposure to the gospel; you could see the joy on their faces. After the children left, around 4 o’clock, we all traveled back to Hope to continue construction on the chicken coop, or what I call the chicken hotel. We were able to get most of the sheet-metal roof on and began some of the boxes and posts inside. The rest will be done on Saturday, before we leave.

A few days back, I was praying and walking the new land of Hope, which is little more than a large, grassy field. The only adornments it bears are the newly planted garden and the chicken hotel, which are directly adjacent to the brick wall of the children’s village initial property. As I walked, praying over the new land and the plans for it, I saw a termite mound on the very edge of the land, built next to a tree. 

Firstly, if any of you have ever encountered a termite mound, you that they are very tough things to destroy. It is almost like breaking down a stack of bricks. The termites are very meticulous and thorough when it comes to their houses. But, even so, they can be destroyed. However, for this one, which was built on a tree, it it much more difficult, if not impossible to completely destroy. 

For us, believers in Christ, we need to build our lives upon a tree. We need to build our homes, these bodies, the housing of our souls and spirits, upon the cross of Golgotha. To be built upon the solid ground of what God has done for us, and grow next to Him and His cross, so that we may be indestructible. Unable to be destroyed by any attacks of Satan and his demons.

So, my thought for you today: be more like a termite mound.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist