4 Minute Devotions: Massai

My daughter Lauren is on a three month mission trip in Tanzania, Africa. Just north of her, are the Massai people, who have their own Christian creed.

Podcast version here

Most of you know that my youngest daughter Lauren is on a three month mission trip in Tanzania, Africa. She is working in a mountain town called Tabora, where she is leading a summer school program for orphaned children, whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS.

1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Tanzania is mainly an Islamic country, but north of where Lauren is, the beautiful and noble Masai people live. Some of them are Christians and have a very sincere faith. About fifty years ago, they wrote a wonderful creed that just captivates everything about their Christian beliefs. They are largely poor people, but they are rich when it comes to faith. I’ve written out their creed in this message and I am certain it will touch your heart, just as it did mine.

The Masai Creed

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Prayer: Lord God, we tend to think that our Western faith is strong and powerful throughout the world. You are teaching us, however, that the least amongst us and the weakest economically have a far greater hold of faith than we do. Help us to learn from the wisdom that You bestow upon Christian peoples of other nations. Open our hearts and minds to their simple, true, and devoted faith. In Christ’s Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

4 Minute Devotions: Holding on to Hope

My daughter Lauren flies out to Africa this weekend on a three month mission to help orphaned children in Tabora, Tanzania. It will be a time for all of my family to keep our hope in the Lord.

Podcast version here

Tomorrow, our youngest daughter Lauren flies out to Africa for three months. She is excited about the whole adventure ahead of her, whereas I don’t think I’ll get a whole night’s sleep until she’s back home.

Lauren has been planning this for a whole year. She wants to do something that will make a difference in the lives of the least. She will be working with the orphaned children of Tabora, Tanzania. Their parents have all died of AIDS, so Lauren will be tutoring, supporting, and leading a summer program to help these young people.

I am proud of what Lauren seeks to do because I know that within myself, I could not do it. I think if I ever got there, I would want to stay forever and help them the rest of my life. Perhaps Africa is Lauren’s calling of the heart, just as America has been mine.

Psalm 31:24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

This summer, my family may be spread all over the world. Evelyn’s mum is ill and it may turn out to be a terminal condition. If that happens, she will fly out to Glasgow to be with her for a while. This could mean that I’ll have a daughter in Virginia, one in Africa, and a wife back in Scotland all at the same time. It will be a strange feeling and the first time that all four of us have been separated from one another.

But, as our kids sing at church, God’s got the whole world in His hands, so I reckon He will be holding on to my family wherever they are and whatever they are doing. It will be a time to remain strong in faith and take heart that God is doing what He knows best. We all have our hope in the Lord, so no matter what happens, He is with us.

Prayer: Lord God, our lives never stand still and we undergo many changes, transitions, and transformations. Throughout those times, Your constant love and watchfulness over us comforts, strengthens, and encourages us. Thank You for never letting go of us, even during those trying times when our grasp of You is weak. In Christ’s Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

PS Lauren has her own blog page about the journey. You can find it at
http://www.theroadtoafrica.blogspot.com/

4 Minute Devotionals: Living with Lions

Nature can be a terrifying and destructive force. Our faith is in God, who is above nature. When we seek Him, God enables us to find what we need. A devotional about he lions of Serengeti and my daughter's upcoming mission trip to Tanzania.

Podcast version here

Psalm 34:10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

I was watching a nature program on the Discovery channel the other night. It was about a super pride of lions in the Serengeti Park of East Africa. The savagery of these big cats is awesome and their strength is absolutely amazing. When I watched them pull down their prey and feast on the corpses, it made me shudder and revere the lions at the same time. I was quite thankful to be viewing them in the comfort of my home and not somewhere on the great plains of Africa.

I also watched the program because it was based in the Tanzanian part of the Serengeti. My youngest daughter Lauren will be going on mission there for thirteen weeks, starting on the 1st June. She’s already left the United States and is enjoying a week with her family and friends in Scotland. She’s also preparing herself physically, mentally, and spiritually for what I call her ‘African adventure’. I hope that she also gets to see some of the wildlife in Tanzania and maybe a few lions, but at a safe distance.

The Discovery program showed some of the lean times that the super pride endured. When prey was scarce, some of the younger cubs starved and the older lions grew very weak. It’s part of the process of living in the jungle, where the survival of the fittest is always the law of the land. It was distressing to watch some of the weaker cubs die, but it also made me thankful for the bounty of blessings that God has given to my family and me.

I guess that’s why I like this verse from Psalm 34. It reminds all of us about the forces of nature which cause hardship at times to wildlife, but it also describes our dependency upon God’s favor and blessings. He is above the powers of nature – which is the meaning of the word ‘supernatural’ – so when we truly seek Him, He enables us to meet our needs.

I hope and pray that when Lauren works with the orphaned children in Tanzania that her world view will change and her dependency upon God will be stronger than ever. And when she returns at the end of August, I look forward to learning new aspects of faith from her.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank You for the bounty of blessings in our lives, especially in these troubled times where thousands of others have lost everything due to the ravaging and terrifying power of Nature. With our resources, help us to share the blessings of what we have with those who have not. Teach us to depend upon the riches of Your grace, so that we, in turn, can give of our lives to those in most need. In Christ’s Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Feedback Question: When have you experienced God’s bounty and then used it as a blessing to share with others?

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Send your feedback answers to him at pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Daily Devotions: The Road to Africa

My youngest daughter Lauren has just set up her own blog at www.theroadtoafrica.blogspot.com
She is planning to go on a special mission trip this summer to Tanzania in Africa. She’ll spend thirteen weeks working with children who have been orphaned through the AIDS epidemic that has swept through that region. It will be hard work and physically demanding. It will cost a lot of money, but Lauren believes that God is asking her to go, so she doesn’t want to disappoint or disobey Him.
Podcast version here

As a parent, I am both concerned and proud. It’s a major task and one that will almost certainly change her life. As a pastor, I am pleased that she is listening to God and I pray that He will both guide and protect her.

Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him.

Her willingness to do missionary work like this reminds me that Christ’s Church reaches all over the world. People in other places, nations, and continents have come to know the Lord and, as the psalmist wrote so long ago, “all the families of the earth bow down before Him.” I would love to be with Lauren as she worships with the Tanzanian people. I would love to experience their joy for the Lord in the midst of such trying and hard circumstances. I think if I did, it would also change my life forever. But this is Lauren’s calling, not mine.

One day in eternity, we are going to gather in heaven and we will see countless numbers of people of different races and cultures cheerfully and joyfully worshipping the Lord. I don’t know what I’ll feel at that point, but I expect that my heart will be bursting with a joy that can only be experienced in heaven. I guess John Newton best summed up the feeling:

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, Than when we’d first begun!”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, all around the world billions of people are praying to You today. They are expressing their concerns and joys, their hopes and fears, their dreams and problems. It is amazing to think that You hear each one and You love them all individually. Help us this day to meet and greet people everywhere as children of God and servants of Your Kingdom. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.