Just before I preached today I was interrupted by my interpreter. He told me he was sorry but there was a little 9-year-old girl who was very insistent that I allow her to come up on the platform and polish my shoes. She told the church staff that the Lord had spoken to her several days ago about this. The staff tried to dissuade her but she was insistent.
So just before I gave my message, up walked this little girl with black shoe polish and a brush that she had bought with her own money. The entire congregation watched as this bold little child shined my shoes. Valerie and I felt that we should reach down and bless her. Tears streamed down her face as she finished her task and went back to her seat.
I am not quite sure what it all meant, but believe me I was touched and I remembered the Scripture that says, “Lest you humble yourself as a little child you shall not enter the kingdom of God.” Oddly enough the scripture reading from the Daily Bible was about the woman who came and washed Jesus’ feet and dried them with her tears.
Another memorable moment from the service was a widow woman who came up to the platform with a big bunch of bananas. She laid them on the altar and told the congregation that the Lord had blessed her with a new house. Behind the house she planted a grove of bananas and that this was the first fruits of her harvest. “I love this church,” she said, “and with all my heart I want to be faithful to the Lord and a blessing to this house.” Something we don’t see every day in our Seattle churches.
One thing I so love about the Kakamega Church is that the children are a vital part of the worship. They joyfully dance in the service and often parade through the crowd during worship. Each Sunday a different age group comes up and leads everyone in a song and several of them quote verses from the Bible. Because of the inclusion of their children, they seldom lose the next generation as they grow older. By the time they become teenagers they are already on the worship team, on an outreach team or in a service group.
Following the service at the Church, a bunch of people jumped in the church bus and went out of town to a place called Msala. This is the site of the new church plant that has no building and is now meeting under a tree. I preached for exactly six minutes before we were hit by a powerful rainstorm. It was all for the best because we wanted to give them some money to put up a temporary building and it would not have been wise to hand it to them in public. So we went back to Simeon Obayo’s house and gave it to them in private. I want to thank those who contributed money to put up a temporary church building. We were able to give them $1400 and they are working on a temporary structure as you read this. They were so blessed!
Thank you dear friends for allowing us to be the conduit for your gift to a people whose needs are very great. To be a blessing to others is the greatest blessing of all
Richard
