Well, I received my visa for access into Kenya, I have my plane ticket, and my plans mostly figured out, I am heading to Kenya.  The question has been asked by a few people here and there: Why?  Why are you doing this work?  And I don’t know that I have a solid answer for anyone, but I do have a few random thoughts on the subject.

1)  When I first went to Kenya, it was simply from a desire to see the gospel become more manifest in my life, call it "practical theology" if you will.  Basically, I wanted to live the things that I claimed to believe, rather than just spouting off theological niceties or rhetoric.  And that desire led me into a friendship with a lady in Alaska, which in turn led me into fellowship with a Kenyan pastor named David.  I visited him in December of 2008, on my own, self-funded, without a plan, just a desire to experience life alongside him and the children he cares for.  And God gave me many opportunities to do that and more, by providing them with a dairy cow and calf, purchasing the land that they were renting, and opening up several opportunities to preach the gospel.  It was one thing for me to say, "Yes, I believe that God is with me wherever I go." and just continue my average American life, and wholly another thing to actually be sitting in the Chicago airport realizing that I have no one to lean on or trust in except God.

2)  Secondly, during that first trip, I spent much time contemplating Scripture and the implications of it, and ended up spending quite a bit of time reflecting on 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 which states "If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  And if I give all my possessions to fee the poor, an if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." (NASB)  I realized that going to Kenya on my own, without a plan, and just seeing what God would do through me in the lives of Pastor David and the children was a good place to start, but I couldn’t leave it there.  This portion of Scripture (which is consistent with the rest) states that I can do all kinds of things like that, but if I don’t do it with love, it is meaningless.  I began asking myself the question, "What does it look like to show love to these people?"  And God prompted me to begin fundraising to build and establish a proper children’s home for the kids.  So I did.  Eventually the building process started in September of 2009 and I was able to assist and be a part of it in December of 2009 as well.

3)  Thirdly, I am doing this work because I want to know more about what it means to truly show love.  Now, I’m not married, nor do I have any prospects to become so, but what I understand from talking to many married people, reading books on the subject, and being taught by some very godly people here at MWSB, is that love, real love, means commitment.  In Hollywood, the consensus is that everyone "falls in love" or "falls out of love" kinda like they were walking along and didn’t see that huge hole in front of them and  just stepped in it.  But what I understand from experience and from Scripture more importantly, is that we make a choice to love.  Sometimes continuing in that choice is easy, and other times it is much more difficult, but continuing in it is always worthwhile.  Having grown up with more of a "Hollywood mindset" it has been a challenge for me to grow in my understanding of the biblical mindset, ultimately though it comes back to saying, I want what I say I believe to match up with what I live.  So I continue in this work in order to learn more about what it means to truly love.

4)  Fourthly, I am pursuing this work, doing this work, and continuing this work because I’ve felt compelled to be involved in missions-type work since I was seventeen and I don’t feel compelled to stop yet.  I am forming CTM for the purpose of pursuing this work more whole heartedly and for building up that same passion in others who feel similarly called.  To provide opportunities to serve, to go, to grow, and to be transformed through practical theology.

5)  Lastly, and most importantly, I am doing this work for this reason: "…the love of Christ controls us,, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might now longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."  2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NASB  I do this because of what Christ did for me, it’s not an effort to earn His love or to pay Him back for it, it is simply an outpouring of thankfulness on my part toward Him.  "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but He lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."  Galatians 2:20