Life and Death

To all the incredibly dedicated staff of Every Child Ministries - Happy New Year!  As a ministry, we are blessed to work together with such wonderful people. I pray that 2019 is not just a blessed year for ECM, but also for you and your family.

As the new year begins, I would like to invite you to join with me on a regular basis, as together we grow in our walk with Christ and in our ability to effectively bring hope, help, and dignity to African children.  At least two or three times each month I will encourage you through God's word and share with you how God is working in this ministry to bring hope to the most vulnerable.  I will invite you to encourage each other through your responses to my posts, and my hope is that in doing so we will strengthen our ministry and increase our reach.

The title of this blog has a double meaning, as you may have already noticed.  I will be addressing various staff matters in the blog, so that we can all be current with what is going on in our organization.  But the second meaning is even more significant:  YOU matter!!  All ECM staff matters!!  You are important, and the work of ECM could not go on without you!!  

With that in mind, let's get started!

Within the last two weeks, our staff in Uganda has suffered two painful loses.  Two children, one suffering from AIDs and another from cancer, passed from this life into the arms of Jesus.  Both suffered in ways we cannot imagine, and battled valiantly to the end. While Timothy and Brian are now in heaven, having both accepted Christ as their savior, we continue to pray for and support their families as they grieve.  I am grateful for the incredible work of our staff members in caring for the needs of these children, and in doing all they could to give them a chance to live.  I know that your pain is real and deep as you process what has happened.  Please know that all ECM staff are standing with you in this difficult time. 

When children die, it is always tragic, no matter the reason.  It can also be discouraging for those of us who regularly work with kids.  What could we have done differently to help?  Could this have been prevented? These types of questions are valuable as we process what has happened.  But we should never become discouraged in these situations.  We should never allow tragedy, even death, to break the resolve we have to share the hope of Jesus with children. In fact, I encourage us to move forward with a greater resolve, so that other children have a chance to life full lives in relationship with their creator.  If we must ask if we could have done anything differently, then let us ask the question not looking backward, as we cannot change the past, but looking forward, intentionally seeking ways to improve.  Timothy and Brian would want us to continue to serve and to bring the love of Jesus to the needy and suffering.

Let us begin 2019 as if what we are doing is a matter of life and death. Indeed, it is a matter of life and death.  When we live, we live for Christ, and when we die, we gain eternity with Jesus (Phil. 1:21).  It is our desire that the children and families we work with will live lives of hope, will experience the love of God, and will serve him fully with their lives.  And when they die, whether young or old, timely or untimely, they will be welcomed into his loving arms for all of eternity.

Please take a moment right now to pray for your fellow staff members in Congo, Ghana, Uganda, and the United States, that we would all be used effectively this year to bring the hope of the Gospel to a world void of hope.  Then remember to lift them up on a regular basis throughout the year!  Finally, take a moment to share a comment below to provide some much needed encouragement to the Ugandan staff as they deal with these tragedies.

For Kids and Kingdom,