One of my prayers for this trip is that God would soften my heart to the stories I hear and that He would help me see beyond the surface level of the people I meet. Last night our team went to the movie theater as a celebration of NFC Kenya’s (GOD’s Kenya soccer team) win at a match yesterday. I sat beside a new East African friend of mine from Kenya who started telling me that he was discouraged that he had to return home next week after enjoying so much of the past week with our team. After talking with him more, he began to open up with me about the suffering he has endured over his entire life. I want to share his story because he deserves to be remembered even when the world around him forgets him, tramples on him, and makes him feel like he has no purpose.
Throughout the story, I will call my friend Tim to keep his name private. Tim began by sharing with me that our team would be visiting his hometown and that when people had shared their excitement to visit he would quickly tell them that there is nothing good about his hometown. There is nothing about his village that was welcoming, hospitable, or suitable for abundant life. Tim, at the age of 19, is in charge of taking care of his family which consists of his 98 year old grandmother and his 13 year old brother with a learning disability. At this moment in our conversation, Tim noticed two people behind him in the theater were snacking on a bag of chips. When he heard the price, Tim gasped in awe of how much money they would spend on a bag of chips when the one who bought them said that “they only cost $3.80 (USD).” Tim went on to tell me that he worries everyday for his brother and tries his best to make sure that his brother grows up in the best conditions possible. He seemed almost ashamed to say that he planned to send his brother to boarding school so that he could live in better conditions, although Kenyan boarding schools aren’t necessarily suitable conditions either.
Tim has to work every day, going door to door selling sandals to people around his village in order to make money to provide for himself and his family. This becomes difficult, especially when taking his illness into consideration. Tim has an illness that often limits his daily functions and results in constant fatigue. He told me of multiple occasions where he had no access to proper medication and had to take himself to the hospital with no family to come for him. Even after the hospital staff called multiple of his family members, no one showed up to take care of him.
Tim’s story was quickly interrupted when the lights in the theater shut off and Superman started playing on the screen in front of us. I looked around at everyone else, captivated by the media in front of them, while I sat in tears not able to think of anything else but all the Tims of this world whose stories are silenced by the world around them that is constantly distracted by the media’s agenda. I couldn’t bear to look at the screen and distract myself from the pain that was so normal for Tim to express. I began to wonder how often people like Tim try to bring their stories to the light, yet the dark is so strong that the media replaces their voice with advertisements that only promote consumption rather than compassion.
As I sit here writing this blog with tears in my eyes, I pray that Tim’s story never leaves me. I refuse to allow the media to hide the endurance he shows to keep pursuing the Lord in an abundance of suffering. Even now, Tim is dedicating this season of his life to learning God’s word and letting that be the lens through which he interprets the world. Unlike most East Africans I’ve talked to, Tim’s hope is not to come to America to make money, his hope and prayer is to learn God’s word and to find community where he is at.
As the movie went on, I thought about Jesus’ words that the Kingdom of Heaven is for the poor, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is for Tim, the Kingdom of Heaven is for those who receive nothing from the world and find all they are in the Lord. Even when the world around him has taken everything from him, he can find everything in the Lord. We have been taught a lot this trip about the reality that even if I don’t pray the Lord’s prayer, I will still have food to eat because I live in a country of abundance. However, there are millions of people within the family of faith that will only receive their daily bread when they start every day on their knees before the Lord. This must be why Jesus commands us to pray “give us this day our daily bread.” I am committed to praying for Tim to receive his daily bread, remembering him and allowing his story to challenge me every day of my life. Please, remember the Tim’s of this world and don’t let the media around you silence his voice. His name, his story, his voice; they matter, don’t forget him.