Our God, He is Alive

 

  Every Sunday morning and one Wednesday evening a month you will find us gathered at Abbina Mennonite church. 

We sit on a mixture of plastic chairs and wooden benches. And we ourselves are quite a mixture. Besides our mission families there are two to three native adults that attend regularly and then anywhere from 15 to 50 children, ages 2 to 18. This means that it is not a matter of training our own children to sit quietly during church, it also means training other peoples children to sit quietly. It can be quite a challenge and some Sundays are great and some, hardly anyone gets much out of the sermon.

The children love to sing and lately we sing the song at the beginning of this post almost every Sunday. Sometimes when I sing a song over and over I forget about the words but the words in this song have started catching my attention. Especially when so much energy and passion is put into singing them!

The swamp behind church. This picture is from rainy season, during dry season, like now, it is a dried up.

  What has really become my favorite part of this song and what brings me joy every time I sing it is; God holds the germ within His hand. Though men may search they can not find, for God alone doth understand. In this day and age, it is so easy for me to forget that God holds tiny germs, even Covid, within his hand. I keep picturing that drawing we have all seen of the Covid germ in the palm of God's hand. And how tiny it must be there. And how He is in complete control of it. 

  I tend to worry and over think things sometimes and this is one of these things I have tried to plan out in my mind. What if my parents would get a severe case of Covid? What if I or one of my family members would get Covid here? Where would we go if it was a severe case?

  But God holds the germ in His hand. I don't need to worry about it.

  Covid restrictions here have technically not changed for awhile. Church services no more than two hours long. Masks. Social distancing. Hand washing stations. But slowly things are fading out again. We were at a wedding this past Saturday. The sanctuary was packed, almost no one wore masks, and the service was three hours long. Weddings were said to have been cancelled for the time being but because it was a church wedding it comes under a church service. And then they just happened to dance and feast afterward. (Which isn't allowed) 

  And so life continues to move along at a rapid pace! There is a God, He is alive, In Him we live, and we survive!