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 12, 2023

THE GOD IN US
Francis Kaponda
MMM Field Officer, Malawi

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7

When we say we are children of God do we really understand? Apart from accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and living in ways that pleases God, being children of God means that God gave us his spirit so that we fear not, we are powerful, we are loving and smart.

How many times have we doubted our ability in venturing in actions that would have positively uplifted our lives and that of others. We have at times refused to take on church positions or assignments out of fear and undermining our abilities among others. When we do this, it becomes an insult to God who made us able and with all we need to take up challenges.

As children of God we have the duty to fan into flame the gift of God which is in us and get it to proper use. Our only limitation in what we can do is our deficient faith. May we realize that with a little bit of faith and the gift of God in us, we can really do anything, our word can create, and our mind influences our physical world. Let us realize this and get our gifts to use in ways that are beneficial to others, more especially the most needy within our community and beyond.

Attaching ourselves to God’s missions like that of MMM is one way of putting our gifts to use. We thank God for the use of these gifts through fundraising for MMM, for being available to physically volunteer for MMM and for working hard in our daily businesses to have some donations to MMM. We thank you all. Your contribution can never go unrewarded right here on earth and in the life after.

Application Question: Do I know I am God’s Child?

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me realize all the gifts You imparted in me and help me make use of them to the service of Your mission without fear, for the Glory of Your name. In Jesus’ name, 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

But between them and the foot of the sky there was something so white on the green grass that even with their eagles’ eyes they could hardly look at it. They came on and saw that it was a Lamb.

“Come and have breakfast,” said the Lamb in its sweet milky voice.

Then they noticed for the first time that there was a fire lit on the grass and fish roasting on it. They sat down and ate the fish, hungry now for the first time for many days. And it was the most delicious food they had ever tasted.

“Please, Lamb,” said Lucy, “is this the way to Aslan’s country?”

“Not for you,” said the Lamb. “For you the door into Aslan’s country is from your own world.”

“What!” said Edmund. “Is there a way into Aslan’s country from our world too?”

“There is a way into my country from all the worlds,” said the Lamb; but as he spoke, his snowy white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself, towering above them and scattering light from his mane.

“Oh, Aslan,” said Lucy. “Will you tell us how to get into your country from our world?”

“I shall be telling you all the time,” said Aslan. “But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear that, for I am the great Bridge Builder. And now come; I will open the door in the sky and send you to your own land.”

• From The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Compiled in A Year with Aslan

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

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2021. 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 11, 2023

GOD'S CALL
Carol Nussbaumer
Volunteer, Colorado

"… for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” omans 11:29

More than 25 years ago, I believe God called me to go to Malawi and teach the deaf. If you are reading this in Malawi, preparing to travel to Malawi, or committing to support the program in prayer, I believe you also have been called.

The Bible is filled with stories of those whom God called. Many of them responded “Why me? I can’t do this.” Remember Moses? And Jonah? And many others. The immediate reaction for us seems to be “no I can’t – I don’t know how.”

When you are called to help install wells in Africa, God has also prepared you with the skills and mental set you will need. In all likelihood, you will realize that He has been preparing you all your life for just this task. Did you learn to drive on a stick shift? Guess what? Your Toyota has one. Have you ever had to overcome a tough physical challenge? You will again as you travel around rural Africa installing wells. Maybe you were taught as a child to have patience and to love others. Both very important virtues when you are part of MMM. Talking with and getting to know people in the villages is important! You may never see each other again, so take a few minutes to burn their faces and voices onto your heart. They will certainly remember you when they come for clean water and may even tell their children and grandchildren about the day the mzungu came to the village and gave this well.

Paul says the “call” is irrevocable – God does not change His mind. You may be called for just one trip with MMM, or God may move you to come again and again. We may choose to explain to Him why we really can’t go do this, but remember the saying “If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.” Better to say “Here I am, Lord, use me.”

Application Question: oday, how can I best respond to God’s call in my life?

Prayer: Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard You calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.
---hymn “Here I Am, Lord” by Daniel L. Schutte

---

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

I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in ‘the High Countries’. In that sense it will be true for those who have completed the journey (and for no others) to say that good is every- thing and Heaven everywhere. But we, at this end of the road, must not try to anticipate that retrospective vision. If we do, we are likely to embrace the false and disastrous converse and fancy that everything is good and everywhere is Heaven.

But what, you ask, of earth? Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.

• From The Great Divorce
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

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

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2021. 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 10, 2023

CHRIST IS CALLING
Reverend Ed Hoke
Volunteer, Illinois

"My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

We live in a noisy world. It is not just the sound of traffic mixed in with jackhammers, chainsaws and bulldozers changing the landscape. It’s not just the roaring surf or the sound of a windstorm. It not just the cacophony of a room of unruly kindergartners. We all have myriad voices competing for our attention. Sometimes these voices can be heard and sometimes not. We can hear the voices of our families wanting our attention, of our bosses wanting our devotion, of our customers wanting service. But there are other voices that sometimes, while not audible, are very loud. That voice of temptation that bids us to go where we know we do not need to go. The voice of pity that shouts that we need to pay attention to all the needs we see around us. The voice of guilt when we don’t heed all those needs. The voice of greed that draws us to think of only ourselves. The voice of the one calling in the wilderness, calling us to “follow me.”

Both of my children swam competitively when they were young. My wife and I would go to these swim meets and during each race the noise was deafening. Each swimmer had teammates yelling for them to go fast. Parents cheering their child on. Coaches each giving instructions and encouragement. You literally could not hear yourself think. My oldest was very accomplished in the butterfly. His coach would shout a cadence he wanted Tim to follow. But for the life of me I could not hear him above the din. I asked Tim once, “How do you know the cadence your coach is giving you?” He told me, “Dad, through practice, I know what my coach’s voice sounds like and I block out everything else.” Need I say more? Through practice, we need to know the voice of our Savior. By practicing the means of grace by attending worship, prayer, reading our Bible, by engaging one another in Christian conversation, we learn the sound of the voice of Christ. Listen. Christ is calling.

Application Question: Where will I hear Christ calling today?

Prayer: O Lord my God, help me to listen for Your voice, to be able to pick it out from the many I hear, and to follow You. 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

Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do no share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one.’

• From The Four Loves

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 9, 2022

MORE THAN A CUP OF WATER
Alisa Chapman Simpson
Volunteer, Missouri

"..and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” Matthew 10:42

When I first learned about Marion Medical Mission and the results they obtained each season, it sounded almost too good to be true. So many wells installed in such a short time, with clean, safe drinking water for so many thousands of people. Eventually I decided I wanted to participate in this process for myself. I have to say, being at each and every well was an awesome experience.

On the first day of dedicating wells, I looked around the villagers while my experienced partner led the dedication. I realized that many children were present who should have been in school. Many of them needed shoes, and I was sure they all needed books. After dedicating several wells, I realized I wasn’t concentrating on the clean water being pumped out and the joy expressed by the villagers; rather, I was concentrating on what I could do to get those children in school, put shoes on their feet and books in their hands. On my second day, I had to take a step back and refocus. I was so overwhelmed by what I wanted to do for those beautiful children that I wasn’t thinking about my purpose in being there, which was to offer them that literal and symbolic cup of clean water. Such a simple thing we take for granted, but a gesture that means so much more than just the water itself.

The installed wells are always stamped “Glory to God” in both English and in the local language. And truly, it is the hand outstretched in love that matters, reminding the villagers and ourselves that the glory does indeed belong to God.

Application Question: How can we, no matter where we are, extend “a cup of cold water” to the people around us?

Prayer: Gracious and loving God, we thank You for the gifts You have given us, and the opportunities to share Your love with others no matter where we are. We ask for Your continued guidance as we move through a world that is more divided by the day, and patience to see people not as other, but as Yours. In Jesus’ name we pray. 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

IN PRAISE OF SOLID PEOPLE

Thank God that there are solid folk
Who water flowers and roll the lawn,
And sit and sew and talk and smoke,
And snore all through the summer dawn.

Who pass untroubled nights and days
Full-fed and sleepily content,
Rejoicing in each other’s praise,
Respectable and innocent.

Who feel the things that all men feel,
And think in well-worn grooves of thought,
Whose honest spirits never reel
Before man’s mystery, overwrought.

O happy people! I have seen
No verse yet written in your praise,
And, truth to tell, the time has been
I would have scorned your easy ways.

Then I do envy solid folk
Who sit of evenings by the fire,
After their work and doze and smoke,
And are not fretted by desire.

• From Spirits in Bondage

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 8, 2023

LEARNING JOY IN AFRICA
Karen Dragano
Volunteer, Colorado

"FShout for joy to the LORD all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.” Psalm 100:1-2

Tom and I have been volunteers with MMM for seven well seasons. On each trip we have learned about JOY. Joy doesn’t depend on the things you have or how easy your life is. Of course the villagers show real joy when the first fresh water bursts out of their well. The singing and dancing are sometimes overwhelming! But the joy is there even when there are problems to overcome. The Field Officers and maintenance men show a quieter joy in their work making people’s lives better. I think the African sense of community is at the heart of the joy we see. The shared work and shared goals create bonds of cooperation between people. The celebrations sweeten those relationships. Philippians 2:2 says “Make my joy complete by being like-minded… being one in spirit and purpose.” Joy is multiplied when it is truly shared.

We have seen Africans who are faced with troubles but they face them with courage and a positive attitude. “While one believer praises God in the midst of terminal illness, another grumbles because of a runny nose. What’s the difference? ATTITUDE” (Mike Mason, Champagne for the Soul). Sometimes an easier life leads to whining instead of joy! So many Africans face hardship but still show joy!

We have met many strong African Christians in MMM and in the villages. We have heard joy in the LORD in their prayers at well celebrations and felt it in their church services. Luke 2:10 calls the birth of Jesus “good news of great joy”! Faith in Jesus is the foundation of deep joy!

We thank God for the “African-style joy” we have witnessed in our brothers and sisters. I can hear the women’s “joy sound” in my heart right now as I remember them! We try each day to apply their example in our regular lives. Praise God!

Application Question: ow have you experienced joy today? What is blocking your joy?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, focus our eyes on You, the source of all real joy. Show us how to be joyful in good times and bad. Give us hearts that look for joy that we can share with our brothers and sisters, and strangers too! 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

A Ghost argues with the Bright Spirit who was her brother Reginald:

‘It’s a lie. A wicked, cruel lie. How could anyone love their son more than I did? Haven’t I lived only for his memory all these years?’

‘That was rather a mistake, Pam. In your heart of hearts you know it was.’

‘What was a mistake?’

‘All that ten years’ ritual of grief. Keeping his room exactly as he’d left it; keeping anniversaries; refusing to leave that house though Dick and Muriel were both wretched there.’

‘Of course they didn’t care. I know that. I soon learned to expect no real sympathy from them.’

‘You’re wrong. No man ever felt his son’s death more than Dick. Not many girls loved their brothers better than Muriel. It wasn’t against Michael they revolted: it was against you—against having their whole life dominated by the tyranny of the past: and not really even Michael’s past, but your past.’

‘You are heartless. Everyone is heartless. The past was all I had.’

‘It was all you chose to have. It was the wrong way to deal with a sorrow. It was Egyptian—like embalming a dead body.’

‘Oh, of course. I’m wrong. Everything I say or do is wrong, according to you.’

‘But of course!’ said the Spirit, shining with love and mirth so that my eyes were dazzled. ‘That’s what we all find when we reach this country. We’ve all been wrong! That’s the great joke. There’s no need to go on pretending one was right! After that we begin living.’

• From The Great Divorce
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

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 7, 2023

TEAM WORK
Vyalema Khosa
MMM Coordinator, Malawi

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 37:17

I believe I am a better person today because I have been sharpened by many people I have been involved with on the way...parents, teachers, school mates, friends, relatives, work mates etc. All have made a difference in my life because they provided many lessons to learn from.

Working with MMM has played a greater role in sharpening my life. I have learned a lot more from my colleagues, USA volunteers and many people we work with in our communities in the process of us accessing clean water here in Africa. I have been to areas which I believe I would not have reached if it was not for MMM work. I have seen and learned more about how people suffer to access clean drinking water in rural and urban areas. I have been sharpened to understand better than before.

As I continue working with MMM I will continue to sharpen others in my own little way as they also sharpen me in their own way. I thank God for the benefits we get by working hand in hand with each other through MMM.

Application Question: Who am I without my fellow human beings?

Prayer: Our Father, we ask You to continue working with each one of us to be good sharpeners of our friends, neighbors, work mates and many people who we come across in our daily life so we make our world a better place to live in for everyone. 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 Death

“But,” said Eustace, looking at Aslan. “Hasn’t he—er—died?” “Yes,” said the Lion in a very quiet voice, almost (Jill thought) as if he were laughing. “He has died. Most people have, you know. Even I have. There are very few who haven’t.”

“Oh,” said Caspian. “I see what’s bothering you. You think I’m a ghost, or some nonsense. But don’t you see? I would be that if I appeared in Narnia now: because I don’t belong there any more. But one can’t be a ghost in one’s own country.”

• From The Silver Chair
• Compiled in Words to Live By

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 6, 2023

STEPPING OUT IN FAITH
Jocelyn Logan
MMM Co-Founder and Treasurer

"I have told you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11

We arrived in October of 1994, exhausted after the 36-hour journey from Illinois to Lilongwe, then two hours on the tarmac, and an hour on a challenging drive to Embangweni. Before we settled into our room, Rev. Tembo requested that we meet with the headmasters, local church officials, and regional chiefs who had gathered. They wanted to build a school for the hearing impaired, and needed $23,000 to build the pre-school and early primary school blocks. It would be the first hearing impaired school in northern Malawi. They had started school two weeks earlier with 23 young children and were excited for us to see it. They were taught and housed in borrowed “women’s guild” buildings. Chief Inkosi Mzukuzuku donated the land. The community had already made 200,000 bricks to be used in the construction of the new school.

In the classroom, an animated teacher pressed his finger next to his lips to feel the vibrations of the ‘m’ sound. He used a tissue in front of his mouth to demonstrate the ‘t-t’ sound. The children imitated in delight and wonderment. They were communicating and recognizing sounds. Another teacher was teaching the children to use a pencil. I will never forget the look of amazement, excitement, and hope that day. The Synod of Livingstonia and the Embangweni community had stepped out in faith.

Marion Medical Mission had to step out in faith as well. Though we only had $2,500 to build the school, we agreed to provide the $23,000 needed for the first primary buildings. It became a 12-year building project, including hostels, teacher houses, home economics, and a carpentry workshop. We continue to provide transportation scholarships, support for fertilizer, seed, school supplies, and trade tools. With an annual enrollment of 180 students, thousands have found joy and learned to communicate, read, write, and mathematics. They were given a chance and skills to live a productive life. MMM provides a complete set of carpentry tools so that the carpentry student graduates can begin their trade. On graduation day, proud mothers dance and whip their tongues with sounds of jubilation.

By stepping out in faith, we all experienced the complete joy of loving.

Application Question: Reflect on your life’s journey. Where have you found joy when you have stepped out in faith? How do you want to move forward?

Prayer: You have shown us the way. Our faith calls us to do good works and the joy we experience by following You has made us complete. 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

There are three ways of taking the command to turn the other cheek. One is the Pacifist interpretation; it means what it says and imposes a duty of nonresistance on all men in all circumstances. Another is the minimising interpretation; it does not mean what it says but is merely an orientally hyperbolical way of saying that you should put up with a lot and be placable. Both you and I agree in rejecting this view. The conflict is therefore between the Pacifist interpretation and a third one which I am now going to propound. I think the text means exactly what it says, but with an understood reservation in favour of those obviously exceptional cases which every hearer would naturally assume to be exceptions without being told. . . . . That is, insofar as the only relevant factors in the case are an injury to me by my neighbour and a desire on my part to retaliate, then I hold that Christianity commands the absolute mortification of that desire. No quarter whatever is given to the voice within us which says, “He’s done it to me, so I’ll do the same to him.”

• From The Weight of Glory
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

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 5, 2023

REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH
Kathy Manfredi
Volunteer, Illinois

"And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.” Isaiah 58:12

Recently, I was asked to do a presentation about my trip to Malawi with MMM. While preparing for the talk, I recalled many of my experiences – the beauty of the country and its villages, the friendliness and generosity of the people, the roads and bridges as well as the beautiful friendships I made. I was reminded that Malawi is referred to as “the Warm Heart of Africa,” but I was also reminded of the contrast between life in Malawi and my life back home.

Great chasms have developed in our societies and our world – disparities in economic or educational systems, lack of affordable housing or of food and water. Political and legal systems are rife with discord and many personal relationships are broken. At times, the brokenness of the world is all we see. Repairing these issues can be challenging, taking time or requiring structural or organizational changes. It is easy to fall into despair and mourn or rage at the unfairness of the world.

Yet, we are a people of faith. We are called to be a “repairer of the breach”; one who restores the right way. Injustice, corruption, and unequal distributions of resources are examples of how people have become alienated from God; how we have allowed ourselves to accept these divisions.

In The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Kamkwamba states “I went to sleep dreaming of Malawi, and all the things made possible when your dreams are powered by your heart.” When we walk to install a well, when we sing and dance in joy, when we share our bread with those who have none, or when we tell our story after returning home, we repair the breaches in our lives and experience the warm heart of God. Let us allow our hearts to be led by our dreams. When we repair our own alienation from God, focusing on restoring the right way at all times and with all we meet, the breaches in the walls will begin to close.

Application Question: What are your dreams for a better world? When have you let your heart be led by those dreams?

Prayer: Father, we ask for Your guidance, strength, and compassion as we seek restoration. Help us work toward justice for every individual and follow the dreams of our hearts in healing that which is broken. In Your name, we pray. 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

I am a democrat because I believe that no man or group of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolled power over others. And the higher the pretensions of such power, the more dangerous I think it both to the rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. I few must have a tyrant a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations. And since Theocracy is the worst, the nearer any government approaches to Theocracy the worse it will be.

• From On Stories

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 4, 2023

A GIFT FROM GOD
Jamie Erikson
MMM Executive Director

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17

Something as beautiful as MMM could only be a gift from God. From every act of giving, from the beginning to the end of each Well Season.

MMM coordinators, field officers, installation supervisors, and well builders diligently serve God, going way above and beyond. Though they receive no additional compensation, they build many more wells than their job description requires of them. They know the impact these wells will have for their brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a righteous act, a gift from God.

Every single donor throughout the year is a gift from God. Without every penny God graciously provides, these wells would not be possible. He stirs in the hearts of His children to be a part of the miracle of MMM. We sometimes receive donations with precious notes apologizing that the donation could not be larger, yet it is because of all of these donations together that these wells are possible.

Unwavering office volunteers weekly commit to doing office tasks. Faithful trip volunteers pay their own travel expenses and work with the African staff to install pumps, record well data, and dedicate the wells to the Glory of God. Devoted board members lead and guide the way forward. Faithful ambassadors tell friends and family about MMM and make presentations at church and Sunday School. God has gifted donors to orchestrate fundraisers; from little children doing household chores to raise money for a well, to large golf events funding multiple wells, and church fundraisers funding the annual salary for a Field Officer!

The love of Christ propels MMM. Every intricate detail is a gift from God. We do not bring anything to the table other than what good gifts, talents, and blessings God has given us to share. We can do nothing on our own, but with Him working through us, MMM is unstoppable. God is our source for all of the beauty and miracles we have seen over the past 40 years and will continue to see. He is unstoppable.

Prayer: Father, Thank You for Jesus, our right standing with You. Thank You for making a way for us to spend eternity with You. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, empowering us to do whatever You call us to do. Help us to be who You have created us to be. Help us to commit every act unto You. We pray for Your good and perfect will for MMM. In Jesus’ name we pray, 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

TO MARY NEYLAN, whose husband has received job security: More on the graces accompanying the death of Charles Williams. Lewis asks if he can dedicate George MacDonald: An Anthology to her.

20 May 1945

I think what you say about ‘grief being better than estrangement’ is very true. I am sorry you should have had this grief. . . .

I also have become much acquainted with grief now through the death of my great friend Charles Williams, my friend of friends, the comforter of all our little set, the most angelic. The odd thing is that his death has made my faith ten times stronger than it was a week ago. And I find all that talk about ‘feeling he is closer to us than before’ isn’t just talk. It’s just what it does feel like—I can’t put it into words. One seems at moments to be living in a new world. Lots, lots of pain but not a particle of depression or resentment.

By the bye I’ve finished a selection from Geo. MacDonald (365 extracts) which will come out about Xmas: would you (or not) care to have it dedicated to you? I feel it is rather yours by right as you got more out of him than anyone else to whom I introduced his books. Just let me know.

And why should you assume I’m too occupied to see you? Friday mornings in term are bad, but alright in Vac: and Friday afternoons in both. I should like a visit (with a week’s notice) whenever you find one convenient.

Excuse this paper. It may be less blotched than yours but yours did at least begin life as a real piece of note paper! I’m so glad Dan has got his job made permanent. Blessings!

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

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 3, 2023

WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN US
Reverend Elijah Mwasakifwa
MMM Program Coordinator, Tanzania

"For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. At once the one who had received the five talents went off and traded with them and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” Matthew 25:14-18

n this text we learn that the master decided to divide the money among his servants according to their abilities. No one received more or less money than he could handle. Failure to produce and maximize could come only from laziness or hatred for the master. Thus no excuse as a result of being overwhelmed.

The money in this story represents any kind of resource we are given by God, for example: time, wealth, abilities, health, and other resources that he expects us to invest wisely until He returns.

MMM has decided to invest in health assurance for the children and poor communities in the rural Africa south of Sahara. MMM is in the front line to push forward the agenda of saving lives of many who could die because of water-borne diseases.

MMM has chosen to deal with the life-threatening agent by providing African communities with sustainable source of safe water. This is to say if there is no access to safe and clean water, lives of many people are with no doubt at maximum risk.

Our Master Jesus Christ has given all of us, each one with equal or less talents to complement each other, we therefore need one another to fulfill his mission of building His kingdom here on earth.

We are responsible to use well what God has given us. The issue is not how much we have but what do we do with what we have at the given place and time.

Application Question: How will we use what God has given us?

Prayer: Father our Creator, use us to spread the message of love through this inspiring work, the work that touches lives of Your children. You are the life giving and source of life itself. With our humbled hearts we ask Your protection, guidance and strength as we commence installation season. In Jesus’ name we ask and pray. 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 Death

On the one hand Death is the triumph of Satan, the punishment of the Fall, and the last enemy. Christ shed tears at the grave of Lazarus and sweated blood in Gethsemane: the Life of Lives that was in Him detested this penal obscenity not less than we do, but more. On the other hand, only he who loses his life will save it. We are baptised into the death of Christ, and it is the remedy for the Fall. Death is, in fact, what some modern people call “ambivalent.” It is Satan’s great weapon and also God’s great weapon: it is holy and unholy; our supreme disgrace and our only hope; the thing Christ came to conquer and the means by which He conquered.

Satan produced human Death. But when God created Man He gave him such a constitution that, if the highest part of it rebelled against Himself, it would be bound to lose control over the lower parts: i.e., in the long run to suffer Death. This provision may be regarded equally as a punitive sentence (“In the day ye eat of that fruit ye shall die”), as a mercy, and as a safety device. It is punishment because Death—that Death of which Martha says to Christ, “But . . . Sir . . . it’ll smell”—is horror and ignominy. (“I am not so much afraid of death as ashamed of it,” said Sir Thomas Browne.) It is mercy because by willing and humble surrender to it Man undoes his act of rebellion and makes even this depraved and monstrous mode of Death an instance of that higher and mystical Death which is eternally good and a necessary ingredient in the highest life. “The readiness is all”—not, of course, the merely heroic readiness but that of humility and self-renunciation. Our enemy, so welcomed, becomes our servant: bodily Death, the monster, becomes blessed spiritual Death to self, if the spirit so wills—or rather if it allows the Spirit of the willingly dying God so to will in it. It is a safety device because, once Man has fallen, natural immortality would be the one utterly hopeless destiny for him. Aided to the surrender that he must make by no external necessity of Death, free (if you call it freedom) to rivet faster and faster about himself through unending centuries the chains of his own pride and lust and of the nightmare civilisations which these build up in ever-increasing power and complication, he would progress from being merely a fallen man to being a fiend, possibly beyond all modes of redemption. This danger was averted. The sentence that those who ate of the forbidden fruit would be driven away from the Tree of Life was implicit in the composite nature with which Man was created. But to convert this penal death into the means of eternal life—to add to its negative and preventive function a positive and saving function—it was further necessary that death should be accepted. Humanity must embrace death freely, submit to it with total humility, drink it to the dregs, and so convert it into that mystical death which is the secret of life. But only a Man who did not need to have been a Man at all unless He had chosen, only one who served in our sad regiment as a volunteer, yet also one who was perfectly a Man, could perform this perfect dying; and thus (which way you put it is unimportant) either defeat Death or redeem it. He tasted death on behalf of all others. He is the representative “Die-er” of the universe: and for that very reason the Resurrection and the Life. Or conversely, because He truly lives, He truly dies, for that is the very pattern of reality. Because the higher can descend into the lower He who from all eternity has been incessantly plunging Himself in the blessed death of self-surrender to the Father can also most fully descend into the horrible and (for us) involuntary death of the body. Because Vicariousness is the very idiom of the reality He has created, His death can become ours. The whole Miracle, far from denying what we already know of reality, writes the comment which makes that crabbed text plain: or rather, proves itself to be the text on which Nature was only the commentary. In science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself.

• From Miracles
• Compiled in Words to Live By

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 2, 2023

"PERFECT IN WEAKNESS"
Max Martini
Volunteer and MMM Board Member, Tennessee

"For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10

Marion Medical Mission is an organization that thrives in impossibly difficult situations: despite a narrow seasonal window and limited funds, MMM builds more wells every year than should be possible throughout Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. They do so regardless of dangerous conditions, political corruption, and countless other hurdles. Considering the size of the organization, as well as its commitment to put 100% of donated funds directly to aid rather than to administrative or overhead costs, MMM’s impact in sustainable drinking water, education, medical support, and hunger relief throughout Sub-Saharan Africa is simply greater than should be possible.

However, in a way that would be paradoxical outside God’s kingdom, MMM makes such an impact not by strength or force of will but by humility, faith, and God’s grace. They listen to local people, including their miraculously dedicated field officers, and follow their lead. In doing so, they enact a rare form of servant leadership: they lead by serving and they serve by following. All along the way, they give God the glory for their successes and blessings. In other words, it is in their weakness — and not their force of will — that the strength of the MMM project is made manifest by the grace of God.

This approach is not the modern world’s favorite strategy for solving problems big or small. The world tells us that we should force solutions to problems big and small and that we should flex every strength we have in order to manipulate our circumstances according to our personal desires.

But Paul tells the Corinthians that God’s power is made perfect not in strength but in weakness. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul says, “But [the Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Thanks to Christ’s love — God’s grace — we lean not on our own strengths but rather on Him. We can boast not about our own successes and powers but rather our weaknesses, which bring us closer to Jesus. It is thanks to the cross that we can approach and be supported by God’s grace. And, as Paul says, we can do it with delight and joy.


Prayer: From the latter half of the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen/i>

---

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

The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.

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

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 1, 2023

ANOTHER YEAR OF BLESSINGS
Tom and Jocelyn Logan
Founders, Marion Medical Mission

"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” Isaiah 41: 17

Marion Medical Mission is celebrating another amazing year - 38 in all! God has blessed us beyond belief, allowing us to bring clean water to an estimated five million people. We have overcome challenge after challenge - and with your help - we have accomplished the impossible.

Together, we have built nearly 50,000 wells, and these wells are a permanent solution to the water crisis in villages in rural Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique. Your support is saving lives and improving health for generations of people. A Marion Medical Mission well in an African village means the children no longer die from water-borne diseases. It means healthier people who work longer in their fields, producing more food, meaning less starvation.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic meant we could not send U.S. volunteers to Africa, the first time in 35 years. And again, in 2021, there were no U.S. volunteers in Africa during well season. In 2022, we were blessed to send a small group of seasoned volunteers to witness the miracle that occurs when wells are installed. And now in 2023, we are sending two full teams of volunteers!

Our staff in Africa is the best of the best! Covid-19 may have stopped U.S. volunteers from going to Africa, but it did not stop MMM from building the wells! Our 2023 goal is to build 3,500 wells, providing 3,500 villages with urgently needed clean drinking water, covering roughly 60,000 square miles in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and now in Mozambique. These new wells will provide an estimated 350,000 people (210,000 children) with a sustainable source of safe drinking water. Think about it! 350,000 people will get the message this year that Christians in the U.S. shared the love of Jesus with them.

God has given us more than enough. We have the resources, and we are called to share them. Thank you for Joining the adventure, the excitement, the joy of making a difference. Together, we make the impossible, possible.

When we pray, we move our feet!

---

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

TO MARGARET DENEKE: On the death of her husband, Paul Benecke, Lewis’s old history tutor and a Fellow at Magdalen College.

3 October 1944

It will give me great pleasure to come to lunch at one o’clock on Oct. 30th. I will not try to express my sympathy to Miss Benecke when we meet—such things are often merely embarrassing. You, I am sure, will not doubt that she has it.

The gap in College is terrible. Already (and yet it is only a few days) I have twice found myself setting aside a problem ‘to ask Benecke about it’ and then realised with a pang that there is no more of that. His image haunts every room in Magdalen. I hear his imagined voice again and again: so vividly, when crossing Magdalen bridge this morning, that I almost wondered if there were not some objective reality in the experience. I can hardly explain how his funeral affected me. I have heard that service read in that chapel so often for those who have not believed a word of it and who (had they been alive) would have mocked, that my feeling was almost one of relief. Here at last was a dead man not unworthy of the service. In some queer way it enormously strengthened my faith, and before we filed out of chapel I really felt (do not misunderstand me) a kind of joy—a feeling that all was well, just as well as it could be.

I count it among my great good fortunes to have known him. As far as human eyes can judge he was—is—a saint: but oh!, we still needed him here so very badly.

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