Brought Near & Taken Far

We sit in the DC airport, waiting for our flight to take us to Ethiopia and then on to Ndola. Most of us do not know what to expect once we get there -- what our lodgings look like, exactly what we'll be doing each day, or how exactly the church there needs to be served, but we are excited to meet brothers and sisters in Christ -- to be connected to another part of the body of Christ that is halfway across the world. It feels like we are eagerly awaiting a happy family reunion.

Ephesians 2:13 says, "But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

This verse reminds us that we are going to Zambia because we, too, were once far off. That it is by the grace of God that we have been brought near and reconciled to God. The people at Christ Community Church in Ndola carry the same testimony, and that is a sweet picture of God's grace -- people from two distant parts of the world, all saved by God grace, brought together to serve the orphans in Ndola because God, a gracious Father, calls us to love the widows and orphans (James 1:27). We are not going there to do all the things and fix this third-world country with our western ways, but to support the work that has already been done and is being done by Christ Community Church.

So, we here on the Zambia team have been brought near to God and now we are being taken far to another part of our family. Be praying for us! We are eager to serve.