God smiles on Celebrate HOPE!

What a weekend. . . where do I even begin? God showed up. . . literally . . . He must have been pleased with our earthly efforts because the night was divine . . . something only He could do. Meeting Janine and Ian Maxwell and hearing first hand stories and plans for Project Canaan in Swaziland was exciting.

Brian Keith Daniel, an amazing worship artist from Atlanta, GA came and painted "the least of these" for the first time. If you have not witnessed Brian's ministry first hand you are missing something powerful. He donated the painting back to us to auction off that night. The dear friend of Teresa Birk that bought the painting for $8,000 donated it back to Teresa so it can be shipped to Africa to hang in the childrens home that will be built and dedicated in honor of Teresa's son, Jared who drowned 3 weeks after she returned home from Swaziland last summer. What a loving thing to do. . . I am just speechless. Brian Keith Daniel signed the painting, "for Jared" on the back.
We were set for 520 guests. We had to set up additional tables and chairs. Our community came out to support Celebrate HOPE big time! We do not have our final numbers yet but our goal was to raise $100,000 to build the first children's home on Project Canaan. The last unofficial count I heard was that after our expenses we raised $120,000. . . again I find myself without words. . . God is good!

After hearing Janine speak about the country of Swaziland: and how it's population has a negative growth rate; in 2005 the population was 1.1 million people and in 2008 it dropped to 950,000. This is directly related to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is estimated there are more than 200,000 AIDS orphans in Swaziland today and 8,000 more children orphaned every month. The average life expectancy in this tiny Kingdom in southern Africa (the size of the state of New Jersey) is only 29 years. A recent newspaper article in Swaziland claimed that without significant and immediate international intervention, there will be no adults living in Swaziland by the year 2020.

We issued this challenge to the 520 guest at the event, maybe they did not know the facts before they walked in the door this night, but now that they do know, now what?

. . . once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act. Proverbs 24:12
Jamie, Paeton and I with Janine and Ian Maxwell. True servants, the hands and feet of Jesus in Africa. Janine launched her new book, Is it okay with you?, earlier this day at our Barnes and Noble. If you have not read her first book, It's not okay with me, get it read it and then get the new book and read it.
Jamie, Yann, Rosalie, Melissa, me, and Daniel. These are our friends from the Ivory Coast, Africa. Yann, Melissa and Daniel are International students at the university here, SEMO. Rosalie is Daniel and Melissa's mother who is a Dentist in the Ivory Coast. The outfit Jamie is wearing was a gift from these friends. Yann brought it back with him from his Christmas visit with his family. Jamie makes a handsome African man . . . we teased him all night!