|
By Scott Hafemann
President, Mission:Chad
From its beginning, Mission Chad has desired to help the Chadian church rescue the orphaned and destitute children in her midst. Because our supporters have caught this same desire, all that has happened in the last seven years through your love and generosity amazes us. From bare ground to a thriving village of 160 children and their widow-mothers, complete with a chapel, a top-rated school system for 350 students (so those in the surrounding area can benefit as well!), a clinic, bakery and tailor shop – with more to come!
This Fall, there have been two main activities in the village, beside the "normal" routines of life and school (is anything "normal" when one gets 160 kids living together in one place?!): the completion of a two-room classroom building for the high school (only one more to go!) and the expansion of the dining hall and outdoor kitchen (so that all the kids can eat inside and the widows can keep up with the demand of cooking by hand enough to feed 350 hungry kids a hot lunch every day!).
It has become a cliché that those who get involved in such projects often get back more than they give. It is a cliché, of course, because it is true. We at Mission Chad wish you all could make a trip to Village Altonodji to see for yourself what God is doing there through you, so that you could experience directly this truth. The joy seen in the face of a rescued child is perhaps unmatched in this world.
But even without going to Chad, the Old Testament prophet Hosea reminds us that there is something we can all receive back from orphans. In his day, Hosea was warning God's people not to place false trust and hope in the powers and provisions of this world to provide what we need most: security for the future that gives one strength in the present. It is faith in God that fuels fortitude to face life's adversities. It is knowing that our futures are in God's hands that enables us to face our uncertain circumstances. So in chapter 14, verse 3, the prophet turns Israel's attention to the orphan in order to learn this lesson. As Hosea puts it, "Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In thee the orphan finds mercy."
Orphans, by definition, have no one to take care of them; they have no fixed future. There is no welfare or social security system. At most, there is a poor relative who may be able to feed them a little. So orphans in Chad are not tempted to trust in what this world can offer for their lives; they know better. They do not think they can save themselves by simply working harder. They have no way to get into a "career path." Instead, the orphan knows instinctively that he or she is dependent on the mercy of others for everything. Orphans, by definition, have no worldly security.
I think Hosea wants us to see that we can receive from orphans a great life-transforming insight, once we realize that in this temporal world we are all, in a profound sense, orphans. As such, orphans remind us that we too, once we see ourselves clearly, are dependent on God's mercy for everything. This is the pathway of profound security – as Jesus taught us, to ask God every day as our "heavenly "Father" for our "daily bread" and to know that, in response, he is indeed taking care of us, even in the midst of sickness and suffering. As the apostle Paul put it, is there anything we have that we did not receive as a gift? (1 Cor 4:7) In this sense we are all orphans. And as those whom God has "adopted" as his children, we can learn from the orphans of Chad the joy that comes from having been rescued.
The way that this joy in God, born of faith and hope, expresses itself is love. For God's mercy to us comes through those who know themselves to have been adopted by God. Knowing God's free mercy to us as part of his family of faith, we are free not to worry about ourselves, but to give freely and mercifully to others. Thank you for sharing your joy with the children of Chad!
|
