Day 23: Lukewarm

This Sunday was special in many ways.

Firstly, we had visitors! Pastor Karau and his wife came for the 2nd consecutive Sunday, and this time, they brought two American guests: Colleen and her mother, Kay. Colleen is definitely a special woman; she not only helped the Karaus and Lees start Sanctuary of Hope, but Kenya is so close to heart that she also adopted 2 Kenyan children as well. It's always really powerful to see people whose convictions run so deep that they are willing to let God change their lives. In Colleen's case, she had such a heart for Kenyan orphans that she took two home with her (legally of course).

Secondly, today was the first time Dylan and I officially preached at Weru Worship Centre. During the main service, Dylan gave a 50 minute sermon about lukewarmness and spiritual richness to a crowd of about 200. Later on at the night service, I spoke (not for 50 minutes haha) on 1 Samuel 1 and prayer. Neither Dylan nor I are preachers are at all, but we were so thankful that God always seemed to give us the words to speak. Whether sharing a word with a family or preaching in front of people, God really used us as His mouthpieces. We don't pretend that we knew what we were doing or saying a lot of the times, but as long as we were saying what God wanted us to say, it was cool.

In the afternoon, Pastor Mwiti left with the Karaus, Colleen, and Kay to go back to Nairobi, leaving us in the sure hands of the core church members. By now, Dylan and I really appreciated the Edith, Muredi, Javin, Betty, Mary, Salame, Telewanja, Janice, Dixon, and Patrick. They never hesitated to serve and they really set an example for the rest of the community.

Anyway, Dylan's sermon centered on lukewarmness and how God would rather us be either hot or cold. I had never really considered myself as a lukewarm Christian (I mean, who does?), but honestly, is there a better word to describe the majority of the American church? Whenever I'm living selfishly for myself, not caring about others, not living missionally, being apathetic, I'm being lukewarm and God wants to spit me out. That's one of the reasons why Kenya was such a powerful experience: in a way, I was forced to stop being a lukewarm, complacent Christian. All of sudden, I had to stop being the typical, uncaring, selfish Christian and instead, I had to become a follower of Jesus who loves God and others more than myself.

I suspect that's why my first week in Kenya was so hard. The transition from being lukewarm to being on fire for God and the things He cares about is not a simple change of heart. It's an ongoing process that requires being broken and humbled, crying out to God, taking the things I "know"about God in my head and transforming that head knowledge into true passionate convictions, and repeating the process over and over again.