God's Handiwork at Work

Good morning to all you faithful readers out there!  

I'm happy to report that we are well and truly HOME now.

I realized as we meet our friends here, that they don't trust us to stay put for long.  The common greeting is not, "Oh! Glad you're back!" but often includes a more cautious, "How long are you here this time?"

I was getting chided by someone who means well this morning, when I heard myself rising in defence. 

"It's what we do.  When Tony's teaching and preaching, in the words of Eric Liddel from the movie, ‘Chariots of Fire’, we ‘feel God’s pleasure’.  And sometimes we need to seek far and wide for those opportunities." 

Another reason we enjoy traveling is that we get to meet so many interesting people with whom we might not otherwise have crossed paths.  

Today I'd like to mention some folks we just met who really are making a difference.  

First of all, you may remember when I wrote about our friend Abe san in Japan who had been put in a 'bed school’; forgotten and out of sight, just because he had the misfortune to be born with Muscular Dystrophy.

On this last trip, we stayed for a number of days with an amazing couple and one of their sons.   We were in a church on the southeast side of a huge, active volcano, Kilauea, on the big island of Hawaii.  This is where Tony offered his Discipleship class.  

So here's the "abbreviated version”. 

Two people fell in love (you know how it goes) … one had a child, very young, preschool boy.  He was extremely disabled.  These two people strengthened their commitment to Christ and each other … and to the little boy.

You and I all know of situations like this.  An extremely vulnerable child at the mercy of … actually everything.  He had no advocate, no help and no hope.

But these two committed their lives to HIM and to him.

That was about 40+ years ago. Apparently, there were many other 'waifs' that came along into this family to be loved and cared for over the years, but this one stayed.   

During the time we were there, we never got the full 'diagnosis' but the bits and pieces we put together could have meant that this boy would have barely lived, probably never would  have been happy, and most likely would have died young.  He had every medical problem you can imagine, coupled with almost total deafness, non-verbalism, seizures, you name it.  

Today this man is 44, highly functioning, smiling, WORKING in a fulfilling career, praying earnestly at church for others, a loving son and brother … He would sit politely at the table, smiling when appropriate, 'passing' on the chicken I'd brought over with more finesse than I've seen in normal children.......and the list goes on.

Why?  Because like Jesus, these people stopped their busy lives and adjusted for the needy.

In 1998 they started a company, initially to give this son some meaningful activity, but which has grown and now employs 20+ marginalized people and their carers, (at a time), all making a living wage and putting in a full, fulfilling day at work.  We visited and I was on the verge of tears as I could see the commitment, camaraderie, and LIFE these people had.  The son's job (at least it appeared to me) is to take the middle page out of discarded newspapers and carefully place them in a box to be used for wrapping flowers for export. The rest is run through a shredder for packing other varieties. . The look on these people’s faces is not unlike someone working at a command centre at NASA. They are serious about their responsibility and good at what they do.

God has blessed the endeavour.  Groups have actually come from Japan to study this 'phenomenon’; where that spark of life can be found and nurtured in the non-normal.  

This whole experience reminded me of this promise.

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  

God has made each of us with a purpose. (it doesn't say, "the smart ones, the pretty ones”)  it's every one of us.  Thank God, and we're asking for a special blessing especially for those who can see the light in the ones amongst us  who could so easily be discarded. 

Have a look at the website. It’s  amazing  https://enhawaii.com/