In our first day in the tribal area of Kenya, my ministry team met a man maned Awillow. We entered into the conversation with hopes of talking about christ with him. After maybe a minute, we learned that this man, like many others, had heard about Christ many times but was unwilling to accept his grace. Awillow spoke of something hard on his heart that was stopping him from believing. His heart was so hard that he wouldn't even let us pray for him. Well, we did anyway. We prayed immediately after we met with him and then continued to the entire week. We went and visisted him a couple of times and he still wouldn't let us pray for him. His heart had been hardened by hypocracy and a lack of follow through by believers. Man, this sounded familiar to all of us as this is what peole in the US face as well. We were also struck with the question of what role does short term missions have in peoples lives.
In our final two visits we saw that even though we may feel like we aren't making a difference in short term missions, God says otherwise. This man with the hardest heart I have ever seen and who is more stubborn than the average person, not only prepared Ugali (kenyan staple meal) for us but also let us pray for him and gave each of us hugs as we left. It was the most awkward hug I have ever received due to the fact we taught him how to hug right before he proceeded to huge each of us. But this didn't matter. It was also the most heart felt. This man looked genuinly sad to see us leave and all of us just stood there reluctant to leave. As we turned from this man for the final time, I was left with peace. Peace that we had done all that we could for this man. Our persistance to make relationship with him was what he needed and what God had for us. We didn't need to force the gospel on him, but instead show him the love and persistance of Christ. Though he didn't give his life to Christ, some of the chains on his heart have been broken and there is a soft spot there waiting to be filled with Christ.
Only Christ can break the chains humanity has placed on our hearts. They may not be broken in the way that we want them to be, but they are broken the way God has planned. He is the all powerful healer of broken hearts and ultimate comforter. He is more than we can define these words to be and is greater than even we can imagine. Awillow will forever remain in my heart and the hearts of my ministry team.
