On our first Sunday in Kenya, Dr. Wellington Mutiso, the preacher at Athi River Baptist Church was effusive in his appreciation for our having come. He said that we had heard their “Macedonian Call.”
Not being well versed on Acts 16, I had to look it up to become familiar with what the Macedonian Call was.
Simply, Paul had sought the Lord as to where he could go to preach the Gospel. God had shut several doors, and it seems Paul was a bit impatient. At last, he saw in a vision a Macedonian person who beseeched him to “Come over and help us.” He took it as divine revelation and traveled at once to Philippi, a Macedonian city.
It seems the people of Athi River had called, and were looking for someone to come help them.
I have thought many times whether the money used to transport people to the other side of the world for a week wouldn’t have been better spent on supplies that are needed there. A transoceanic flight is quite the opposite of ‘cheap.’ In some areas, the plane ticket’s price could feed a person for years.
I was struck, then, when Dr. Mutiso acknowledge that “we do recognize that it is very costly to come from North America into Africa. The airfares are greater than going to these other continents. But may the Lord bless you; even for the money that you have spent to come to us at such a time as this.”
That put it into perspective for me; that presence is as important as presents.
Sarah and I support a young girl named Nancy, who lives in Kenya, though it is many kilometers from where we are staying here. I did not seriously consider trying to find a time to visit her while I was so relatively close. Now I regret that decision; and should I be blessed to come here again, I won’t make that mistake.