The other side- The Catcher

This is my first week in Kenya. So far I have cringed at a very different scheme of traffic, picked my way through mud puddles and consequently had really dirty feet =), had my first experience of a Kenyan supermarket, walked through an amazing market and I might add seen some incredible bartering take place and met so many really beautiful people so willing to serve others and help me out.

However all the fun and games of a new culture aside, I am continually shocked by how much I feel God’s presence on this trip. I am blessed to have so many people here in Kenya who are willing to support me and welcome me into their lives and homes. From being welcomed on outings, out for meals or simply to sit and enjoy an evening with the new friends I have made. I am constantly stunned by how beautiful it is to be able to sit and listen to such wise and learned people who have a huge passion for Jesus and the ministry they serve.

My blog- as you know- is called the beauty of contagious passion. This is an idea I began to understand after my first kid camp as a leader about three years ago and here is how the story goes…

I arrived at camp- shy as anything but I knew about God and I liked kids but it didn’t go much further than that. Then I met the leaders who had a real excitement for Jesus that almost bubbled and they were so excited to be able to share this excitement they had for God’s love for them with the kids through their example that it was catchy- Their passion was contagious! It was at that camp that I began to realise quite how insanely incredible my faith and my relationship with God could be. Ever since that camp I’ve been finding ways that I can share this contagious passion with others so that they can understand even a small part of the pure joy that I have found in Jesus! This has resulted in many more kids camps, youth camps, intermediate groups and of course the beautifully buzzy conversations that God brings into your life where you are blessed to see people’s eyes light up as they see a smidgen of what drives you and what incredibility you see in Jesus.

I have found this week very humbling in many ways. For so long I have been so intent on sharing my passion with others that I had forgotten how aweing it is simply to sit at the feet of others who are wiser than myself and simply drink in their passion and hear their stories. There are two sides to contagious passion. One way I’m passing the passion onto others and on the other- I’m the catcher..

I feel this is only the edge of this beauty and there is far more that I am yet to discover!

“God give me empathy, more empathetic than my ego. Grant me poverty more perfect than my pride. Squeeze self, God. Reduce me to Love…”