Saturday, September 30, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 30, 2023

YOUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN
Crispin Mhango
MMM Coordinator, Zambia

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm, let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I know you have labored enough in the vineyard of the Lord to provide safe drinking water to your beloved ones in Africa, the volunteers from the USA, coordinators, field officers, installation supervisors, builders, and maintenance men to mention a few.

We are almost there, let us stand firm and let nothing move you, not even the difficulties we face in the field, be it change of weather, bad roads, food, lodges etc. Regardless of all these, always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.

Blessed are you who labor in the Lord for your labor is not in vain. The Lord shall surely reward you on earth and in Heaven.

Application Question: Do you know that those who labor in the Lord, their labor is not in vain?

Prayer: Thank You Lord that You called us to provide safe drinking water to Your people, may You bless the day and the work we are going to do, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen



Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

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C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

If we encourage others, or ourselves, to hear, see, or read great art on the ground that it is a cultured thing to do, we call into play precisely those elements in us which must be in abeyance before we can enjoy art at all. We are calling up the desire for self-improvement, the desire for distinction, the desire to revolt (from one group) and to agree (with another), and a dozen busy passions which, whether good or bad in themselves, are, in relation to the arts, simply a blinding and paralyzing distraction…

Those who read poetry to improve their minds will never improve their minds by reading poetry. For the true enjoyments must be spontaneous and compulsive and look to no remoter end.

From The World's Last Night
Compiled in A Mind Awake

Friday, September 29, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 29, 2023

HE SHALL STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART
Susie Selock
Volunteer, Illinois

"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24

know that there are many real issues with the use of social media, but I am so glad that Facebook gives me the opportunity to stay connected with our African MMM friends.

I was heartened by a recent post from field officer Happy Kamsonga about an incident in which villagers reported being without water from an MMM-installed well. The maintenance men were quick to respond to the problem and within one day they were able to restore safe drinking water to the village. There were no details given about all the individual efforts that were made behind the scene to make this happen but I know that the people involved demonstrated to the villagers that this was a priority. Courage, strength, and hope in the Lord were probably happening during that day.

This story made me pause to give thanks to all the faithful people that make the MMM program the success it is. This year we are celebrating 50,000 wells built since 1990. Take some time to ponder all the faithful people who made this happen and are continuing to make this happen and all the lives benefited as a result. What wondrous work has been done because of those who have shown and are showing the good courage and hope in the Lord.

Application Question: What has God placed in your life that needs his strengthening of your heart to make happen?

Prayer: Dear Lord, we pray for and give thanks for all the individuals in the MMM program that are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to do Your work. Please let them be an inspiration to us all. Amen



Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

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From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Watch the Replay of Miracle of Mobility Live”

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.



FWM Image
Friday Story: “Watch the Replay of Miracle of Mobility Live"

Thank you to everyone who watched the Miracle of Mobility livestream on Sunday and gave toward our goal of providing 21,000 wheelchairs to those in need in developing countries.

In case you missed it, you can watch the replay here!

Please feel free to share this link with friends, family, and anyone you know who might be interested in watching: MiracleofMobilityLive.org.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

Remember that, as I said, the right direction leads not only to peace but to knowledge. When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.

From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Thursday, September 28, 2023

From Solar Under The Sun ... Did you know? YOU can make a difference to end energy poverty!

Believing that Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, the vision of the Solar Under the Sun (SUS) – a ministry of the Synod of the Sun, a governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) – is to illumine our fellow human beings with hope and life through solar energy. To do this, SUS trains volunteers to design and install solar power systems with communities that lack reliable electrical power.



YOU are Wanted!
YOU can make a difference!


Dear Friends,

Join us as we fight energy poverty! Sign up for Solar School. Invite a friend to sign up. Spread the word in your church, workplace, and organization in person and online. Make a Donation. And above all, keep Solar Under the Sun in your Prayers.

Solar School #26 details:
Oct 26-29, at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center near Little Rock, Arkansas.

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* Solar 1 tuitionh: $485
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* returning student tuition: $200 (When you register, tell us (approximately) when you attended solar school, and your registration fee is all you will pay.

We need people who are technically inclined and people who are not.

More at solarunderthesun.org


Stepping Into the Sun

Want to know more about who Solar Under the Sun is and what we do? Check out "Stepping Into the Sun" and get to know us.

An Introduction to Solar School 1

Join our Solar School 1 Instructors as they provide a look at what this training encompasses. Solar School 1 is a vital part of all trips and installations. If you have wondered which Solar School track is right for you, this is a great opportunity to find out!

An Introduction to Solar School 2

Solar School 2 is a vitally important part of any trip or installation. Join us as a Solar School 2 instructor demonstrates the material covered by this training and find out if this Solar School track is right for you.

For more information about our Solar School Program, CLICK HERE.

Did you know we have a YouTube channel?

Check out our latest videos here ...




Solar Under the Sun
P.O. Box 940272
Plano, TX 75094
(469) 379-2788
info@solarunderthesun.org

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 28, 2023

GOD WILL GIVE US SALVATION
Godfrey Chanika
MMM Field Officer, Malawi

"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 12:3

God has made salvation possible for us by his grace. So we know, based on the New Testament, that salvation is possible through Christ, through what he has done on the cross for us.

His salvation is available and it is a well. There are wells of salvation that we can draw water from, every day, all day long; and we can draw that water with joy.

God has made salvation possible for us and we can draw from those wells with joy every day, all day.

Yes, Marion Medical Mission all also installs salvation in different communities by providing clean and potable water. When the communities are drawing water it gives them joy and hope.

Application Question: How many people have you saved today?

Prayer: Our Father who art in Heaven, thank You for this opportunity that You have presented to us, by giving us salvation through Marion Medical Mission, which provides clean and potable water to every denomination. I declare upon this water to be charged with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Let this water become the water for revival. I sanctify this water in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen



Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

Visit Our Website ...


Reaching Out on Behalf of MRC&CAC

I am now three weerks into retirement ... but that doesn't mean I'm not keepng busy!

 One of the things I’m doing in retirement, is public service work. Once again this year, I’m a ‘Shoe Guy,’ volunteering and raising funds for the Midland Rape Crisis and Children’s Advocacy Center through their annual ‘Wine, Women & Shoes’ event.

 The MRCCAC ( https://www.mrccac.org/ ) provides support, hope, and healing for survivors of sexual assault and child abuse in the Permian Basin. Their goal is to eradicate all forms of abuse through education and empowerment, but until that day they will provide every service possible for survivors to help them move forward.

I have had more than a little contact with MRCCAC and their personnel, and have seen them at work. Their service to our community is INVALUABLE, and worthy of our support.

Please give thoughtful, prayerful consideration to visiting Midland Rape Crisis and Children's Advocacy Center (givelively.org) and making a contribution.

Thank you for attention, and your assistance!

Sincerely,

Jeff McDonald

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

This frustration of a life-long desire bit deeply into his mind as the cramped hours passed. It was no, apparently, so easy to jump out of one’s destiny. Then he became conscious of another motive which, unnoticed, had been at work on him when he volunteered. That affair with the girl had indeed frozen him stiff; petrified him, you might say. He wanted to feel again, to be flesh, not stone. To feel anything even terror. Well, on this trip there would be terrors enough before all was done. He’d be wakened, never fear. That part of his destiny at least he felt he could shake off.

From Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 27, 2023

BEING PRESENT
Jessi Stitt
Volunteer, North Carolina

"You teach me the way of life. In your presence is total celebration. Beautiful things are always in your right hand." Psalm 16:11

2008 was my first MMM trip to Africa. I was a bit scared, with some fear but mostly excited and couldn’t wait to go. It was a leap of faith. In 2022 after 12 MMM trips, it’s still a leap of faith.

I have a vivid memory of an entire day of well installations when everything that could go wrong at every well delayed us. We forgot a part for the well. The truck got stuck. The well pipe needed to be rethreaded. It was hot and our team was frustrated. Driving to the last well during this long day, going down a winding mountainous one-track path, we had a near collision with an ambulance coming up the curve on the same path.

Once we were able to safely pass, Jordan Banda had me stop under the shade of a mango tree. He had us all get out, hold hands, and form a prayer circle. We prayed for our mission, our villagers, ourselves, and our truck. So simple, full of faith and hope that in all things with Him, the impossible is possible.

We then went on our way to install our last well. When the villagers saw our truck, they started singing and dancing, shaking our hands in gratitude, thinking that since it was late that we had forgotten them. The well was installed without a problem. As the sun was setting, we could see the Mamas lining up with their buckets to bring clean safe water to their huts for the first time.

Application Question: When is the last time you had an opportunity to show up for someone? Did you do it? How will you show up for someone today?

Prayer: Creator of all, Thank You for this day. Thank You for those who show up and are present. Help us to be one who shows up, help us to recognize Your presence in those around us. Amen



Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

Visit Our Website ...


Reaching Out on Behalf of MRC&CAC

I am now three weerks into retirement ... but that doesn't mean I'm not keepng busy!

 One of the things I’m doing in retirement, is public service work. Once again this year, I’m a ‘Shoe Guy,’ volunteering and raising funds for the Midland Rape Crisis and Children’s Advocacy Center through their annual ‘Wine, Women & Shoes’ event.

 The MRCCAC ( https://www.mrccac.org/ ) provides support, hope, and healing for survivors of sexual assault and child abuse in the Permian Basin. Their goal is to eradicate all forms of abuse through education and empowerment, but until that day they will provide every service possible for survivors to help them move forward.

I have had more than a little contact with MRCCAC and their personnel, and have seen them at work. Their service to our community is INVALUABLE, and worthy of our support.

Please give thoughtful, prayerful consideration to visiting Midland Rape Crisis and Children's Advocacy Center (givelively.org) and making a contribution.

Thank you for attention, and your assistance!

Sincerely,

Jeff McDonald

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

TO MR. N. FRIDAMA, who seems to have asked Lewis about the steps in his conversion to Christianity: On the Calvinist doctrine of double predestination.

15 February 1946

I was baptised in the Church of Ireland (same as Anglican). My parents were not notably pious but went regularly to church and took me. My mother died when I was a child.

My Christian faith was first undermined by the attitude taken towards Pagan religion in the notes of modern editors of Latin and Greek poets at school. They always assumed that the ancient religion was pure error: hence, in my mind, the obvious question ‘Why shouldn’t ours be equally false?’ A theosophical Matron at one school helped to break up my early beliefs, and after that a ‘Rationalist’ tutor to whom I went finished the job. I abandoned all belief in Christianity at about the age of 14, though I pretended to believe for fear of my elders. I thus went thro’ the ceremony of Confirmation in total hypocrisy. My beliefs continued to be agnostic, with fluctuation towards pantheism and various other sub-Christian beliefs, till I was about 29.

I was brought back (a.) By Philosophy. I still think [Bishop George] Berkeley’s proof for the existence of God is unanswerable. (b.) By increasing knowledge of medieval literature. It became harder and harder to think that all those great poets and philosophers were wrong. (c.) By the strong influence of 2 writers, the Presbyterian George MacDonald and the Roman Catholic, G.K. Chesterton. (d.) By argument with an Anthroposophist [Owen Barfield]. He failed to convert me to his own views (a kind of Gnosticism) but his attack on my own presuppositions smashed the ordinary pseudo-‘scientific’ world-picture forever.

On Calvinism. Both the statement that our final destination is already settled and the view that it still may be either Heaven or Hell, seem to me to imply the ultimate reality of Time, which I don’t believe in. The controversy is one I can’t join on either side for I think that in the real (Timeless) world it is meaningless. In great haste.

From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
Compiled in Yours, Jack

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 26, 2023

DO NOT WORRY
Jamie Jones
Volunteer, Georgia

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?" Matthew 6:25

A full group of MMM U.S. volunteers hasn’t returned to Africa since 2019, yet work continued even with Covid rearing its ugly head. In the next three years our African partners masterfully continued the work without us! Fast forward to this year’s well season having a full complement of volunteers traveling from the U.S.

I am on the first team this year and when notified, my first feelings were of joy and excitement. After it sank in that I was heading to Malawi in September, little nagging feelings started to crop up; can I manage the driving again? What about the recording of data? Will I remember to order the food at the lodges and buy all of the food and drink for the MMM folks with me?

I quickly realized this is exactly God has told us to stop doing, particularly in Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:25!

God has given so much to MMM — literally from the ground up — this is his “I’ve got this” lesson to me! From well digging to funding and planning, God repeatedly proves that He’s given MMM the people and tools to get His work done!

Just to reassure us further, the Bible evidently has hundreds of passages on trusting Him and not worrying. Today as we go into the field I will take these passages with me as a reminder also that “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phillipians 4:13).

Application Question: How will I remember to trust God today?

Prayer: Dear God, as we go through this day, help us remember that You are with us, now and always. Amen



Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

Visit Our Website ...


Reaching Out on Behalf of MRC&CAC

I am now three weerks into retirement ... but that doesn't mean I'm not keepng busy!

 One of the things I’m doing in retirement, is public service work. Once again this year, I’m a ‘Shoe Guy,’ volunteering and raising funds for the Midland Rape Crisis and Children’s Advocacy Center through their annual ‘Wine, Women & Shoes’ event.

 The MRCCAC ( https://www.mrccac.org/ ) provides support, hope, and healing for survivors of sexual assault and child abuse in the Permian Basin. Their goal is to eradicate all forms of abuse through education and empowerment, but until that day they will provide every service possible for survivors to help them move forward.

I have had more than a little contact with MRCCAC and their personnel, and have seen them at work. Their service to our community is INVALUABLE, and worthy of our support.

Please give thoughtful, prayerful consideration to visiting Midland Rape Crisis and Children's Advocacy Center (givelively.org) and making a contribution.

Thank you for attention, and your assistance!

Sincerely,

Jeff McDonald

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

“This is the Boy,” said Aslan, looking, not at Digory, but at his councillors. “This is the Boy who did it.”

“Oh dear,” thought Digory, “what have I done now?”

“Son of Adam,” said the Lion. “There is an evil Witch abroad in my new land of Narnia. Tell these good Beasts how she came here.”

A dozen different things that he might say flashed through Digory’s mind, but he had the sense to say nothing except the exact truth.

“I brought her, Aslan,” he answered in a low voice.

“For what purpose?”

“I wanted to get her out of my own world back into her own. I thought I was taking her back to her own place.”

“How came she to be in your world, son of Adam?”

“By—by Magic.” The Lion said nothing and Digory knew that he had not told enough. “It was my Uncle, Aslan,” he said. “He sent us out of our own world by magic rings, at least I had to go because he sent Polly first, and then we met the Witch in a place called Charn and she just held on to us when—”

“You met the Witch?” said Aslan in a low voice which had the threat of a growl in it.

“She woke up,” said Digory wretchedly. And then, turning very white, “I mean, I woke her. Because I wanted to know what would happen if I struck a bell. Polly didn’t want to. It wasn’t her fault. I—I fought her. I know I shouldn’t have. I think I was a bit enchanted by the writing under the bell.”

“Do you?” asked Aslan; still speaking very low and deep.

“No,” said Digory. “I see now I wasn’t. I was only pretending.” There was a long pause. And Digory was thinking all the time, “I’ve spoiled everything. There’s no chance of getting anything for Mother now.”

When the Lion spoke again it was not to Digory.

“You see, friends,” he said, “that before the new, clean world I gave you is seven hours old, a force of evil has already entered it; waked and brought hither by this son of Adam.” The Beasts, even Strawberry, all turned their eyes on Digory till he felt that he wished the ground would swallow him up. “But do not be cast down,” said Aslan, still speaking to the Beasts. “Evil will come of that evil, but it is still a long way off, and I will see to it that the worst falls upon myself. In the meantime, let us take such order that for many hundred years yet this shall be a merry land in a merry world. And as Adam’s race has done the harm, Adam’s race shall help to heal it.”

From The Magician's Nephew
Compiled in A Year with Aslan

Monday, September 25, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 25, 2023

WITH CHRIST
Lewis Silungwe
MMM Field Officer, Malawi

"Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so and, the master of the banquet tasted the water that had just been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside, and said everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guest have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now.” John 2:8-10

In this passage the Bible tells us how Jesus’s involvement lightened the wedding from being without wine to having the best wine till the end.

The verse inspires us today as we go out, that with Christ our installation is guaranteed to be the best with far-reaching benefits:

     With Christ our zeal is renewed
     With Christ our energies restored
     Above all, with Christ the remotest village will get the best water for drinking

Application Question: How will I keep Christ with me today?

Prayer: It is our prayer Lord that You will be with us today as we go out to install wells and that You will sustain us throughout the day to Your Glory. Amen



Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

Visit Our Website ...


C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

On Depravity

This chapter will have been misunderstood if anyone describes it as a reinstatement of the doctrine of Total Depravity. I disbelieve that doctrine, partly on the logical ground that if our depravity were total we should not know ourselves to be depraved, and partly because experience shows us much goodness in human nature.

From The Problem of Pain
Compiled in Words to Live By

Sunday, September 24, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 24, 2023

#walkingforMMMwater
Reverend Suzanne Gorhau
Volunteer and MMM Board Member, Nebraska/Iowa

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

I’ve never had to get up in the middle of the night to walk miles for water for my family. As a young girl, I didn’t have to fetch water instead of going to school. I’ve never had to limit the water I use for washing, cooking, and drinking. But I know my sisters in Africa do that.

This summer I’m going to walk the ancient pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago, 500 miles across Spain. I used to participate in CROP Walks. We’d walk several miles and raise money for those in need. I decided to make my walk on the Camino a fundraiser for Marion Medical Mission. I’m inviting people to give 10 cents or $1 for every mile I walk. But I’d like my walk to be more than a fundraiser. I want to walk in solidarity with all the women and girls who have to walk to get water.

Empathy helps us understand another person’s situation. But we need more than empathy. Solidarity puts empathy into action. With each step, I will walk in solidarity with my sisters who walk to get water. With each step, I will walk in solidarity with all who will contribute to wells this year, from the field officers and builders, to the villagers who gather sand and stone, to those who give money. With each step, I will thank God for the gift of water and the gift of all of you.

What if each step we take is a step of justice, a step of kindness, a step of walking with God and with our brothers and sisters? I pray that each step you take today, whether it’s walking to a well site, walking to a church to give a MMM presentation, or walking to get a cup of water, you will remember we’re all walking together.

Application Question: How is God calling you to express solidarity, “empathy in action,” with your brothers and sisters?

Prayer: Dear God, help us to walk with You and to walk with one another. Fill our hearts with empathy and help us put that empathy into action. Amen



Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

Visit Our Website ...


C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker’s, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ: if we have repented these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble. As for the fact of a sin, is it probable that anything cancels it? All times are eternally present to God. Is it not at least possible that along some one line of His multi-dimensional eternity He sees you forever in the nursery pulling the wings off a fly, forever toadying, lying, and lusting as a schoolboy, forever in that moment of cowardice or insolence as a subaltern? It may be that salvation consists not in the cancelling of these eternal moments but in the perfected humanity that bears the shame forever, rejoicing in the occasion which it furnished to God’s compassion and glad that it should be common knowledge to the universe. Perhaps in that eternal moment St Peter—he will forgive me if I am wrong—forever denies his Master. If so, it would indeed be true that the joys of Heaven are for most of us, in our present condition, ‘an acquired taste’—and certain ways of life may render the taste impossible of acquisition. Perhaps the lost are those who dare not go to such a public place. Of course I do not know that this is true; but I think the possibility is worth keeping in mind.

From The Problem of Pain
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Saturday, September 23, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 23, 2023

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES
Soko Thomas Standwell>br /> MMM Field Officer, Zambia

"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." Luke 6:35>br /> "If your enemy is hungry give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty give him water to drink." Proverbs 25:21-22

Last year’s 2022 Installation Season of Wells was my 15th year of service as a Marion Medical Mission Field Officer, in Chipata Area in Zambia. And the Programme has vigorously expanded to the remotest rural and needy areas. We have reached out to so many different people, regardless of their status; tribe, clan, religious beliefs, whether Muslims, Hindus, any nationality or political affiliation, relatives, friends, non-relatives, and enemies to show the Love of God through His only begotten Son.

A lot of people could not even believe our gesture. They thought we were going to sideline or segregate them, for being non-believers. As they have never had an opportunity to access protected, safe, and clean drinking water since the establishment of their villages, some even as long ago as the 1960s. Therefore, to them it was the dream come true. And they praised God, through singing and dancing, showing their happiness, appreciating God’s love, received through MMM.

We did, however, teach them that Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, or abuse you, and prosecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee openly. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Then, came Peter to Him, and said, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Jesus saith unto him, “I say not unto thee, until seven times; but until seventy times seven.”

Application Question: Why do we render our services to all the needy without drawing boundaries? Why not benefiting only our fellow Christians?

Prayer: hank You our gracious God, for the love, joy and care within us, that fills us up. Lord God help us to always remember to love and pray not only for our relatives and friends, but even for our enemies, those who hate, curse and abuse us. May Your love be manifested or seen through us. Amen!!!



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C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

On God

God is Goodness. He can give good, but cannot need or get it. In that sense all His love is, as it were, bottomlessly selfless by very definition; it has everything to give and nothing to receive. Hence, if God sometimes speaks as though the Impassible could suffer passion and eternal fullness could be in want, and in want of those beings on whom it bestows all from their bare existence upwards, this can mean only, if it means anything intelligible by us, that God of mere miracle has made Himself able so to hunger and created in Himself that which we can satisfy. If He requires us, the requirement is of His own choosing.

It is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up “our own” when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud He would hardly have us on such terms: but He is not proud, He stoops to conquer, He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him.

From The Problem of Pain
Compiled in Words to Live By

Friday, September 22, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 23, 2023

GIVING HANDS
Kay Price
Volunteer, Illinois

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

We’d hiked down a long hill from the village, the team had installed the well and we were waiting patiently for more villagers to arrive prior to the presentation. I had noticed her before slowing descending down the steep path to the new well site. She was dressed in the bright colors of Africa. The African sun had etched lines on her face and made her eyes to squint at its brightness. She stood silently next to me staring at the well.

I wondered what thoughts had entered her mind. Did she ever think her village would receive the gift of clean water after all these years? Did she think of the children in the village no longer fearing disease from the drinking water? She looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back (a smile is universal language). Then she began to sing. It was a song I’d not heard in other villages. Her voice was clear and vibrant. Soon two younger women stood behind her and began to sing in unison and chorus. Oh, how I wish you could hear those voices lift from this page!!!!

I understood little of the song but the alleluias the two younger women sang as the elder continued. After she finished, she smiled and extended her hand. I, of course, gave her a hug. Upon our departure, the well supervisor asked me if I understood. “Of course not,” I responded. As was often the answer from me. He explained the words were “the hands that give are the hands of God. Thanks to God for the hands that give.”

The hands in the villages have given much in preparation for the well installation from digging, brick making, preparing the site. The hands of generosity in America have given so the wells might be completed with pumps and pipes. Let us use our hands to serve and give for the glory of God every day in large and small ways as He gives us the opportunity.

Application Question: How will I use my hands today to serve others and give glory to God?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, let us give thanks always and serve You today with our hands, our hearts, our words and our lives. Amen



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C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway
Today's Reading

TO MARY WILLIS SHELBURNE: On how to rehearse for death and how to diminish fear.

17 June 1963

Pain is terrible, but surely you need not have fear as well? Can you not see death as the friend and deliverer? It means stripping off that body which is tormenting you: like taking off a hair- shirt or getting out of a dungeon. What is there to be afraid of? You have long attempted (and none of us does more) a Christian life. Your sins are confessed and absolved. Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.

Remember, though we struggle against things because we are afraid of them, it is often the other way round—we get afraid be- cause we struggle. Are you struggling, resisting? Don’t you think Our Lord says to you ‘Peace, child, peace. Relax. Let go. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Let go, I will catch you. Do you trust me so little?’

Of course, this may not be the end. Then make it a good rehearsal.

Yours (and like you a tired traveller near the journey’s end) Jack

From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
Compiled in Yours, Jack

Thursday, September 21, 2023

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 21, 2023

UNITY IN CHRIST
Doug Kee
Volunteer and MMM Vice President, Michigan

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:2-3

Marion Medical Mission’s protected water program brings together people from very different cultures and ways of life.

As Christians, MMM volunteers and staff work in a spirit of unity with all partners, celebrating our many differences.

We lift up the gifts, talents, and contributions of the poor rural African communities who build and maintain their wells with MMM’s assistance.

We each have equally important roles to play in providing a sustainable source of safe drinking water to God’s people in rural Africa.

Application Question: The lives of the people you meet in villages are very different than our own. As you visit a village to install and dedicate a well, how do you recognize and acknowledge the God-given gifts and talents of the people you meet there?

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes, minds, and hearts to respect and love each person we encounter on this journey. May we celebrate the unique gifts and talents of every person You have created! Amen



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Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

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