God bless you, as you bless others

February 5, 2014 · 0 Comments

When it comes to the blessings we have here in Canada, may I say that they only come from the Lord’s grace! We sometimes forget, not all the people of the world live at the standard that we live at here in Canada. To tell you the truth most of us are living beyond our means here in Canada; most of what we think we own is on credit or some kind of loan. So, even to be able to get credit is a blessing to have the standard of living we have. It is not that I am oblivious to the hardship people have in other countries; at least once a year I am away on a mission’s trip to another country, doing a variety of different mission’s work. Whether it is preaching & teaching or building churches or working in an orphanage, I am always surprised how little I really need to survive in this world. Just last week I got back from an orphanage in Haiti. I went along with a great friend of mine who is a pastor at Jehovah Jireh Christian ministries, Pastor Ted McLean, he is also the president of Global Christian Ministry Forum (Gospel Crusade).

Global Christian Ministry Forum have an orphanage in Haiti, in Croix Des Bouquets, just in the suburbs of Port au Prince. I, and Abiding Place Fellowship, have been helping out with some financial needs for the orphanage and I have also been there twice helping out in any way I can. Pastor Ted is doing a great job in overseeing the orphanage and leading teams of Canadians to work on completing the buildings: the orphanage is about half way finished with the hopes to have a school built in the near future on property adjacent to it. With Pastor Ted’s many other responsibilities, not only in Gospel crusade but helping out in Jehovah Jireh under the leadership of Pastor Carol McLean in their ministry here in Canada, I am amazed how he keeps up with it all. I am very blessed to call him my friend.

The orphanage itself is a full time job; I and Abiding Place Fellowship are very blessed to help out in any way we can to see the vision of the orphanage come to completion. If you would like to help out, please contact Pastor Ted or myself, I know your help would be much appreciated and you will be greatly blessed.

Getting back to my thought about how I can get along without the things I think I cannot live without: my computer, I-Phone, and all the other gadgets including TV that I have come to depend on in Canada, which we almost feel deprived of if we don’t have them. But let’s talk about other things we miss or take for granted when on trips such as missions: toiletries, clean clothes, water that comes out of a tap, the grocery stores where we buy food, the bare necessities of life. Meals were cooked over charcoal stoves or small gas ranges, no refrigeration to keep food fresh and healthy. In the orphanage we had to hand pump water into buckets to flush the toilet, have a shower, or should I say have a bucket bath! I noticed at the orphanage the kid’s were up before dawn, pumping water into buckets to get themselves ready for school, which is another privilege we in Canada take for granted. It costs each child $35 a month to go to school, which is the biggest part of the budget each month in Little Bouquet Children’s home. There are 18 children at this time in the orphanage, you can do the math! The children have health needs, need clothing, uniforms to go to school, not to say the bags of rice required each month to feed them. Not that I have never seen or understood their needs to survive before, but on this trip this time God has made it so clear to me, not just how blessed I and my family really are, but how blessed I am in helping the children of this orphanage. Jesus said in Matthew 25:35, “For I was hungry, and you fed me, I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home, I was naked, and you gave me clothing, I was sick, and you cared for me, I was in prison, and you visited me. Lord when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?” And so on! Verse 40 says, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers & sisters, you are doing to me!” God wants us to bless others, there is no doubt! But he wants to bless us to, through our blessings to others! How many times have you felt good about yourself, felt fulfilled and useful when you laid down your life for others; for the sake of the kingdom of God? It is then you have experienced the blessing he longs to pour out on your life.

I know not everyone can, or wants to, go to an orphanage as I did in Haiti, but we have an opportunity this weekend to help support the food bank in this community by coming to a concert hosted by the Shelburne Ministerial and the Shelburne Rotary Club ,February 9th at 2pm at Trinity United Church. Come and bless and be blessed!

Rev. Gord Horsley, Senior Pastor, Abiding Place Fellowship