Three-word recap.
Three words kept floating across my mind during the trip and for weeks after.
It happened at the strangest times. While a group of little kids showed me how to dance in church. Driving past a line of students in bright blue uniforms walking miles to school. Wandering through a village of rusty tin roofs, hanging laundry, fresh fish and welcoming smiles. Kicking a soccer ball across the dirt behind the pastor’s house. A little boy I’d never met reaching up and grabbing my hand as we walked along.
“God is alive.”
I said these words out loud on a couple occasions. Of course, I’ve said them before. But something in their weight and resonance had changed altogether. As if this simple phrase meant something different on this trip. Something more.
It’s one thing to know and believe that God is alive. It’s an entirely different thing to experience it—to see him all around you.
Here’s a quick snapshot of a few places I saw the living God in West Africa:
A group of brightly-dressed widows welcomed us to their home (a church/orphanage/school complex) with exuberant singing and dancing. I was moved by how such joy and vitality could come from people who’ve experienced such hardship. God remains an ever-present refuge for the weak and downcast.
My new friend shared his story of being abducted from his family as an 8-year-old during the civil war in Liberia. He was handed a machine gun and began fighting for the rebels by age 10. He survived the war, only to find himself alone on the streets, disowned by his family. A German missionary ran into him on the beach and gave him an opportunity to attend film school. If you’re thinking, “Film school? That’s so random.” Just know I’m thinking the same thing. He has since filmed for CNN and National Geographic and has devoted his life to sharing stories of Christ’s redemption.
Senator Saah Joseph—in partnership with Jefferson Baptist Church—developed a number of private schools throughout Liberia, providing education and opportunities to thousands of young people who wouldn’t otherwise have access. He’s currently constructing a massive university building to equip 15,000 Liberians each year to occupy trades, such as healthcare and woodworking, that remain essential to Liberia’s growth and success.
People of all ages come to church for healing, refreshment and love as they worship a God who provides in miraculous ways. The way they danced around the church in absolute joy and surrender was a sure sign that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
One of our drivers got hit by a motorcycle a few years back. Doctors had to surgically remove part of his hip. He was told that he likely wouldn’t walk again. His pastor reached out to him and said that the God of healing could provide a new hip. They prayed for months. He woke up one morning to an entirely new hip! He went straight to his pastor praising God. Now he walks with the slightest limp and no pain whatsoever.
Whether it’s a network of churches or the Rotary, people from all over the world are championing initiatives to provide access to clean water. There’s still a long way to go, but seeing active wells in small, remote villages filled my soul.
I could share so much more, but like the apostle John said, “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.”
