Bending the Bow Int'l

On our last full day in Mozambique our team took a trip to Iris Ministries for a few hours. We were able to reconnect with some old friends: Pastor Josef, Steve and Ros Lazar, and a few others. An Iris transportation vehicle took us to the Bocaria (the DUMP). On our last trip to Mozambique the bocaria (or dump) was Alma’s favorite place to hang out. This is a dirty, dangerous place. The least of the least reside and scavenge here. There is an extremely high crime rate: a lot of thievery, a lot of sexual crimes, and a lot of violent crimes. No one is exempt from the danger; not the elderly, not women, not children. In the Bocaria one goal, one objective exists: SURVIVAL! Extreme poverty seems to coincide with high crime rates. People will do whatever it takes to survive.

Our basic needs are always met, with rare exceptions. We experience minor inconveniences, but our needs are met. We have soooooo much. So….in my mind I grapple with questions like: How do you truly reach people so stripped, so depraved, so violated? How do you make a lasting impact in places like the Bocaria? Offering the gospel and little more is like sticking a band-aid on a foul, rotting wound. God’s heart is tender and broken for the widows, the orphans, for the poor, for the lost, the broken, and so then our own hearts MUST be broken for these as well. We don’t have the right to look the other way and hope someone else will figure it out. IT IS OUR JOB…as His Bride…His ambassadors…His people…those who bear His name…those who have been redeemed from the Bocaria’s we came from. These people in places like the Bocaria are the apple of His eye…they reside in His heart….and so then, they MUST be a priority in our own lives if we truly belong to Him.

So what strategies are in God’s heart to heal their wounds? We must ask and ask and ask….and be still and listen….and then we must act…because the Bocaria exists in every nation…in every person for that matter. The stench and violence and extreme poverty are so obvious in places like the Maputo Bocaria, but until Jesus washed us clean with His blood, until He renewed our mind and heart , the Bocaria existed in each and everyone of us….and it exists even now…right now. Look around. What is God saying about the Bocaria next door? What is in His heart? What does He feel? What does He think? What is He saying? What are His strategies? We MUST ask…We MUST listen…We MUST act! We MUST!! We are His bride…His hands and feet…And if we don’t ask, listen, and act, who will?

The Maputo Bocaria