Jake's journal - Day 1 in Ghana

Last night Jake emailed me his first blog post which was his journal entry from their first day in Ghana yesterday! Not sure if he will be able to continue to email me his journals each day, but I will plan on posting them as they come in. Of course you will have to wait to see the pictures until they get back since my mom will have all of those on her camera. Here you go...this is what went down yesterday:

Well we have arrived in Ghana, Africa! I am short two suitcases which leaves me with stinky underwear and stinky socks. My advice for anyone coming to Africa is to expect the unexpected and let God do the rest. As we finished reporting my missing suitcases I walked out to a lobby full of reporters which I had no idea would be there waiting for our arrival. Tomorrow is the big kick-off for our Isaiah 1:17 Foundation at the Aviation Center and the media was all over the story! You could see God working in orchestrating all of this and it has created great momentum for our project here.

Once arriving to the Airside hotel we had a scheduled press conference with all the media resources from throughout the country. I was able to share our vision and our goals for the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation. I also announced that the core of our fundraising effort will be done in Africa which caused me a good 20 minutes of questions because that is basically unheard of in Africa. (Now if you don’t live in Africa we could still really use your help)!!

I explained to the media that the majority of the people in the United States are not interested in giving to Africa. Many people of the world, particularly Americans, remain blind of the desperate situation in Africa and other third world countries. For instance, I explained that the world is blind to the fact that there are 26,000 children dying every single day from very preventable causes. I explained to them that at some point the African community needs to look at each other and say we have to create the change from within and stop waiting on the Americans and Europeans to do something. I explained to the media that third world countries have been waiting on the help from Americans for hundreds of years and at some point people in Africa have to say fine, then we will change on our own.

This statement caught a lot of people off guard and the next reporter asked me why do I believe that Americans don’t care because guys like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have done a lot. I said I totally agree there are a handful of people who are making change in the world, but there are very few ordinary/non-celebrity people fighting for change and only a small amount of Christians fighting for change. To fight for the injustices of the world you truly have to lose your life in order to gain your life in the Lord. Bill Gates is in a different class of people than someone like me or you. If Africa is going to change or any third world country is going change, I believe it starts with ordinary people.

I went on to tell them that most people are afraid to step out on the edge for Jesus….to step out on the edge for what God has called us to do. It is hard, it is uncomfortable, and it is difficult to plan precisely and control every situation. It forces ordinary people who choose to help to look at themselves in the mirror and understand that fully living for Christ is not safe or comfortable. It showcases the need to begin to live a life that more resembles Jesus and walk in faith. I said that I believe as a whole, the American Christian has become dead and hidden from what is hard. If Jesus comes back today I would not be surprised if he would speak to us like he spoke to the Church of Ephesus in Revelations 2: 4-6.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

After a passion filled press conference we grabbed some dinner at Frankies and spent the evening with Prince, Kelvin, and Kofi. The best part of the evening was that you could feel God’s presence in it all. Please pray that God will give me the right words in all situations to fully share what he has done for all of us on the cross. Pray that my heart will break for what breaks God’s, and pray that God’s love will be portrayed from all that we do.
I love it here in Africa and can’t wait until tomorrow which will be another day to paint the vision; I am reminded today that nothing is impossible through Christ.

Jake

Jake's journal entry made me think of an 'ordinary' guy that is making an extreme difference in Ghana. The following video was aired on the Today Show back in October....if you didn't get to see this story, you have to click on the following link and watch the video! I couldn't get the embed code on the video to work, but this link will take you there....as the video starts you have to watch an advertisement first, then the story will come on. The story is called 'Well driller pours aid into Ghana' and it is part of Jane Pauley's series called 'Life Calling Today'. Here is the link: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/39739114#39739114