What God Accepts, Part 2
I spent part of today helping to load a truck in Rajahmundry with 70 sewing machines. Seems like an odd thing to do on a missions trip, but it had to do with the James verse from my previous post:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...
The sewing machines were about widows, and women who find themselves and their families in economic distress. A sewing school for widows was started about ten years ago as well. In India in particular, widows often find themselves in a very difficult situation economically. The idea behind a sewing school was to teach local widows and poor women a skill that translates into the ability to make a living to help provide for themselves and their families. So they enter into a free program to teach them to sew and embroider. Learning these skills, however, would mean little if they gradated and did not have the means to put it to use. So every year, we have to find a way to get sewig machines for the graduates.
This year, the people of Kensington Church, in Michigan, were given the challenge to take some of the money they normally spend on Christmas gifts for family and friends and give it to help someone who needs help- like 70 women in Dowlasiwaram, India.
As we unloaded the truck at CEM campus in the 90 degree heat, I pictured the families back in Michigan, Christmas Day, perhaps opening a few less gifts, and wish that they could have been with me- seeing the tangible expression of their sacrifice. And then, I pictured each of these sewing machines finding their way to the homes of the graduates- and see how it translates into providing for their daily food,clothing medicine. It really is true that a small act of sacrifice can change a life literally on the other side of the world.
This is what God accepts as pure and faultless...
By the way- on the way to pick up the machines, I had the experience of riding on the back of a motorcycle in India traffic. Believe me, it beats any amusement park ride I have ever been on.
