Rebuild the walls
2009-08-28 - Arno & Lindsey van Niekerk
What if you could change South Africa? Would you like to be the next Nelson Mandela? What if you could make a difference in people’s lives? Would you like to be the next Mother Theresa? What if you could impact the world through your life? Would you like to be the next Princess Diana?
Maybe you are thinking, “That could never be me!!” You know what though, those people did not start off their lives thinking that they were going to change the whole world….but they did!! How?? One person at a time!!
Nehemiah (pronounced KNEE-HA-MY-UH) was like that. He was working in the king’s palace as a cup bearer. A cup bearer’s job was to taste everything before the king did to make sure that no one was poisoning the king. So, his job was important to the king but it wasn’t changing the world. One day, while Nehemiah was working, his brother came and told him that his people back in Jerusalem were not doing well and that the wall protecting Jerusalem and the people had been torn down.
Can you imagine how Nehemiah must have felt? He was living far from home and he gets a report that his country is falling apart and the people are starving, scared, and unsafe. So can you guess what Nehemiah did?? I think you might……he prayed and cried to God for his family, his people, and his country.
Later when he was serving the king in the palace, the king saw that Nehemiah was sad and asked him why. So Nehemiah told him that his home country was in ruins. The king said, “Well, how can I help you?”
So Nehemiah, praying in his heart, asked the king to let him go back home to rebuild his country. The king said yes and provided safe travels to him as well instructed Nehemiah be given wood from his forests that were close by Nehemiah’s country.
So Nehemiah got a few friends together to go with him to start rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, his home city. They got excited and when they arrived in Jerusalem started getting all of the people involved. Each family and community started helping and building the wall closest to where they lived.
They had some enemies try to come and attack them so they started posting guards while they were working so that they would finish building that wall. People tried to stop them. Some problems in between the people came up, but Nehemiah sorted all of those things out and they kept building. 52 days later, they finished!! They celebrated, brought sacrifices to God, and eventually everyone moved back inside the new walls of the city.
One simple man’s desire to help his people changed a whole country!!
So what can you do? What is important to you? What areas to do you think need to be better in South Africa? A LOT of people spend A LOT of time complaining. Why don’t you become a part of the solution instead of adding to the current problem!! How can you help?? Here are a few ideas: pick up trash you see lying around on the ground, be nice to someone at school who is “different” from you or from everybody else, have a fundraiser to raise money for others who don’t have enough to eat, or come up with your own idea. Just DO it!! No excuses!!! Paul told Timothy not to let anyone look down on him because he was young but to be an example with his life.
If you have some more community outreach ideas or something that you have done or are doing, send your ideas to 3C Ministries, P.O. Box 136128, Alberton North, Alberton 1456 and you might just see your idea in next month’s newsletter!!
Go Reach Your World!!
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