It is hard to believe that we have finished six months of the ¨new year¨. We have been very busy, in Kairos, working in the House, hosting teams and preparing for summer groups.
In addition to our regular forms of service, God has introduced a new tier to our ministry: feeding those who are strangers in our land. As immigration laws become stricter in the North and the life of an immigrant becomes more challenging, many are being forced to return to their homelands. Their journeys are long and tedious and often dangerous as they have little resources to find food and shelter along the way. As Kairos Ministries as grown in its reputation of hospitality, many have passed by seeking food and brief shelter. Men from Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and many other countries knock at the door of Kairos House praying to find nurture and compassion on the other side. It is our hope that they find the Hands and Feet of Jesus and see the Face of Christ smiling into theirs.
We have read this countless times in the Bible as direct commands from God:
Leviticus 19:33 -34 ¨When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.¨
Exodus 22:21 ¨Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.¨
Deuteronomy 10:19 ¨And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.¨
It would be easy to respond with a polite, ¨We are so sorry, we don´t have enough¨ as the ministry´s operating budget is very small, but we choose to have Faith that it is God who provides the food and needed funds for the ministry and if He chooses to send more mouths to benefit from the bounty He provides, who are we to stand in His way. After all, we are called to ¨be hospitable to one another without complaining.¨(I Peter 4:9) and to ¨not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.¨(Hebrews 13:2).
As we enter the month of July, we praise God that He is enabling us to move into the final six months of the year with energy and the means to continue to serve. Here are some tangible ways you can pray for the ministry and our team:
1) Means to provide the ¨bono 14¨that is due to the Kairos House manager and to the Valdez Gonzalez family (during the months of July and December, the law dictates that employees pay their employes double their salaries during these times). The amount needed for the two families, in total, is $2,020.00 (to cover their salary and bonus).
2) Safety and unity for our summer teams working with us duing the months of July and August.
3) The people we serve and their crops as Guatemala goes through a ¨dry season¨.
4) Our families health and energy as we continue to follow God and His leading for our roles in the ministry.
Categories: Blog Notes, Newsletters/Cartas, Uncategorized