The Kingdom of Heaven is Near

I must, simply must, share some of the sights of the Kingdom Kids project. I had never been able to be here at this time of the year,  though I had helped to raise money to support it in the US. What a privilege I have been given, not only to have a front-row seat but to be a part of this move of God!

The first step of the process is that pastors have to come to bring us a list of the children for whom they want backpacks. We set aside 3 days for them to come, we told them we would open the doors at 10. The first day we opened the doors and looked out and the line went on...
and on...
and on..
….and on.
They came in and we went over lists with them…
One by one,
by one
by one.
By 6 pm when we closed down, we had requests for over 38,000 backpacks. And we still had pastors knocking at the doors.

One man I met with, I will never forget. I asked him where he was from and he told me a village I had never heard of. I asked him how far it was and he told me he had to take the “Nissan” (the mountain villages’ form of public transportation) at 2 in the morning in order to be able to get to the next town, and then take a bus to the next town, to get a minivan to our town. He arrived by 7 am top our doors- he wanted to be in line because he was afraid we would run out of backpacks.

When I saw him it was 2:45 in the afternoon!

When I saw his list I was gulping back tears. He was asking for 24 backpacks. He was willing to travel over and wait in line for over 12 hours to get 24 backpacks for the children in his church! (Would I have done that? I wondered?)

He anxiously asked me if he had made it, if he was going to get them. When I said “Yes, ” he asked how much he had to pay. When I told him "Nothing, they are free for you." He began to weep and we cried together.

I knew as I sat there looking at his tiny handwritten little sheet, that the Kingdom of heaven was near. We do so little with so much…. Here, they do so much with so little.
To you all who prayed, or came to help, or gave- thank you!

I want you to see pictures of the days the pastors came back to pick up their filled backpacks- 18,000 of them. You have never seen such joy!

These backpacks open doors to places where there is utter darkness- where the light of Christ has not been seen. They open doors to villages where we had never been allowed before, and they make their way into homes where there is no hope- all the while proclaiming in bright yellow, red and blue: Cristo me Ama (Christ loves me).

They are loaded up with pens, pencils, notebooks, rulers, erasers, cookies, a doll, a truck- but they have something else as well: a message of hope. You see, when each backpack is handed out the children who receive it- and many times- their parents as well, get to hear that Jesus loves them, that He died on the cross for them- that they are special to the God of the universe and that He has the greatest gift of all for them: eternal life with Him.

You. You made this possible. We are so very grateful. So moved. So thankful to God for the vision and to you for making it happen.

Next, I want to tell you about the children…

I can’t wait to tell you about them!

Catching up with the Kingdom....

"The problem with blogs," People told me, "Is that the people writing them lose interest and then stop writing. Obviously, the people reading them, quit looking for a new post. There zillions of blogs lying dormant in blog-heaven."

“Well, not mine!” I thought! “I am so excited about what God is doing, I WILL use my blog to stay in touch and people from all over the place will read it to be excited with me about what God is doing wherever He sends me, through-out the world!”

Well. Here I am. Five months after my last entry, desperately wondering what in the world happened.

(By the way, I’m grinning from ear to ear as well because so many of you have told me: “Are you EVER going to write in it again???”)Thanks for noticing my absence…. And thanks for your prayers as God has been working and we have been huffing and puffing to keep UP!!

Personal notes- let me get them out of the way and then we are back to what in the world God is doing to further His kingdom and fulfill His purpose from my little point of view!

I went San Antonio for 1 month- thank you to all of you who received me in your homes, churches, Sunday School classes, at your tables in a restaurant or sat with me on the floor as I shared about what God is doing in Chiapas, Mexico! ( I still owe profuse apologies to Ann Rutherford because the day we were going to meet I was tired and took something (like Red Bull?) to keep me awake and….  When you add that massive caffeine to my already wired state of mind about the miracles and joy I am a part of….well. Needless to say, my friend from Virginia probably had no idea what loco steam roller blasted through her hotel room chattering 100 miles an hour about the people, the passion, the persecution and the purpose of what God is doing here. Let’s do it again Ann… without the Red Bull!)

I had to turn around to go back to San Antonio a few days after arriving in Chiapas, because it was determined that I should sell my home. Blessedly, the ministry paid to fly me back.  I will sum up the wonderful story of God’s provision and miracles  with these words: God sold my home.

But there was also the realization that I have joined a  fellowship of which many people I admire are a part:  That little group of people who has more invested in heaven than on earth. What had been a blessing for a season could have become a burden- and now it is gone. Placed into the hands of a wonderful Christian couple for whom it is a blessing.

What an awesome God we serve!

I am reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

And now…. Let me tell you some Kingdom Tales….

(to be continued, very soon!)