Pillar of Fire

Today was my first sunday to go to church off the ship. So I decided to go with my friend who is involved in a church in Caldwall, suburb of Monrovia. As usual it was a lovely drive along a washboard road. We pulled up to a bamboo made building with a tin roof. The name on the banner at the front of the church read: Pillar of Fire.

Sunday school was just finishing as we quietly took our seats. The "White" people standing out in the small crowd. The worship time was so wonderful and the presence of the Lord could be felt. Some of the songs are simple repeat lines so you can catch on quickly, that is if you can understand the English:) It is amazing that two people can speak the same language and not understand what each other is saying. But the Lord understood it all, praise His name :)

The message was taken from Ps 40:1-2 "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. " The pastor spoke on the "The Rewards of Waiting." Naturally as people we hate to wait, especially us westerners. When we are going through difficult times we just want them to end but we must wait on the Lord. As we wait, our rewards will come. There are two rewards for waiting that David experienced and that we too can experience IF we choose to wait. They are deliverance and Elevation.

As I sat there listening to the message I couldn't help but think of how many difficult things these people go through compared to myself. How do they even have hope that if they wait they will indeed receive their reward because it seems like just one hardship after another. Yet I could tell by the cries of "Amen" that they were blessed and encouraged with the message.

Afterwards, I played with all the little kids, there were a lot as there are several orphanages around the area. I started teaching hand clapping games which was fun. Then I saw these two boys giggling and whispering as they looked at me. So I started going over to them and they took off running. But they were no match for me, I soon caught up to them:) Then there became this game of hide and chase. So I would sneak around the church and try to keep out of site and jump out at them and they would laugh and take off running and me after them :) So much fun.