God gives his grace 24/7/365. Sometimes we are so used to it that we take his grace for granted. God recently reminded us of this in a very inspiring way.
Betty and I were boarding a plane when my phone rang. It was Seth, my trusted assistant at the mission, who originates from Ghana, Africa. Seth’s voice was uncharacteristically hurried and I could hear the urgency in his expression. He proceeded to tell us that his nephew, sister’s son who still lives in Ghana was at the hospital and there was a complication with the delivery of their child. They needed to do an emergency C-section. However, no one had the money for this necessary and urgent procedure.
Veronica, Seth’s sister, asked Seth if he could help pay the bill. Although Seth is extremely frugal he doesn’t have that kind of money. They needed another $600 immediately before the hospital would agree to perform the surgery for the safety of the child and mother. We had just enough time before the plane took off to wire the money.
Seth was overwhelmed with gratitude. As the older brother and uncle he felt a sense of responsibility and leadership for the family that he has been reunited with over the past two years. Betty and I had met Veronica on a visit to Charlotte, NC last year. Veronica too was beside herself with relief. They couldn’t thank us enough.
All we asked for was a photograph of the baby.
When the plane landed there was a picture of the baby and a message from the new, and very grateful parents in Ghana. The procedure went well and we had a picture of a super cute little baby boy. In Ghana, babies are originally named by the day of the week they are born until the parents choose a given name. Friday babies are called, Kofi.
What happened next really surprised us. The proud, and very grateful, parents contacted us and asked us to be Kofi’s godparents. Then wanted to honor us with the privilege of choosing Kofi’s given name.
We were blown away. They didn’t have the resources for this emergency. This act of paying the unexpected hospital bill was so out of reach for them that they felt like this was the appropriate response.
After the heartwarming shock of such a remarkable honor we began to ask God what the appropriate name should be for this child. We felt he needed a strong name that had meaning and vision for his future. God guided us to think of the biblical prophets. After looking up the meanings of these names and the unique ministries they provided we landed on two names. We sent these two to the parents and asked them to make the final choice.
We are happy to introduce you to our little godchild in Ghana whose name is Malachi.
The name Malachi has rich meaning. It means “God’s Messenger”. The Old Testament prophet named Malachi had the great responsibility to be the messenger of God to his people to speak into the existing abuses of that day related to social injustice. Malachi was a faithful messenger who had a strong influence on the people.
We ask you to pray with us for little Malachi and his family. Pray for Seth to be a godly influence to them. Pray for his parents to raise him to follow hard after Jesus. Pray for Malachi to grow into his namesake. May he be a strong voice to influence social justice and the gospel of Jesus Christ in his country of Ghana.
We are humbled and grateful to God that we could be in a position to help. It reminded us of God’s grace in our lives. He has given us so much, in fact, more than we need. This situation highlighted why. We are blessed to bless others who are in great need and who desperately need the generosity of others to simply survive.
Deed and Truth gives us opportunities to build bridges to connect people who need help with people who want to help. There are so many opportunities that come our way and we’d love to have you join us in expressing the love of Jesus through deed and truth to those who need it most. We never want to take financial resources for granted. In light of this, we want to offer special thanks to all of you who give generously to support this ministry. Together, we are making a difference!
With hearts of gratitude, we thank God for his continual, ridiculously extravagant grace and may his grace never be taken for granted!