A BOY NAMED MITO

As an music artist you get used to sharing your music in front of crowds of people. Sometimes big crowds and many time small crowds but an audience none the less. When you move to a place like Mozambique that all changes. In fact an artist who makes a move like that is fully aware there may well never be an audience again other than the audience of ONE they are living for daily.

This thought was on the front of my mind as I walked out onto my porch to finish a song or two I had been writing to the Lord. Overlooking the south valley somewhere in central Mozambique, where the land is full of dense tall grass, covered in mango trees, dirt paths, and someone could be lost in an instant I sang out a chorus ironically. "The ancient of days has called me by name, hallelujah, hallelujah! How endless His love is, we're not forsaken, hallelujah, hallelujah!" In the middle of the singing I noticed 5 boys on the other side of the chain link fence walking as little ducklings youngest to oldest through the grass. Their ages ranged from I would think 9 years to 3 years old. The oldest of the bunch in the back began to hear the music and pointed getting his brothers attention. He was getting so excited that he was dancing and swinging his arms and legs for the others to see. As I waved back at them and smiled I also found myself walking out to the fence line continuing to play and sing. My chorus continued as we all stood face to face studying and staring at each other through a thin metal fence. Their eyes were full of joy and gratitude. When I finished they screamed for more. It was becoming obvious that they wanted to be on my side as badly as I wanted to understand and be on their side of the fence.

I asked them all their names in my best Portuguese. The oldest answered first saying his name was
Mito (Me-too). They went down the line telling me their names with pride and laughter. I asked them if they wanted to hear one more song. With very excited body language they answered yes! As I began to play a bouncy up beat chorus singing the words " The Joy of the Lord is our strength..." the boys clapped and began to dance, and dance, and dance some more. Mito kept staring at me with a grin from ear to ear with a look that would say "Wow, this man has stopped to play just for us". Who knows how far they had walked that day. Who knows if they even have parents. All I knew was they didn't want this moment to end, and neither did I. As the sacred moment drew to a close I told Mito the best I could that if he ever walked that road again and sees me to please say hi. His reaction was priceless. Beaming and excited in his best English he replied "Ok!"

I told them "muito prazer", which means pleasure to meet you. Then, I turned to walk back to the house. When I reached the patio I continued to strum the guitar and expected them to be gone. As I turned and looked down the road a thought came to my mind that Mito's name could easily have been 'Me too' in this situation. They wanted to be on my side of the fence and I thought well 'me too'. They didn't want to be alone and I thought well 'me too'. I began to sing out a song idea and allow tears to flow for what would be the next hour. As I began this time of processing this event with tears and guitar plucking I looked down the road and was shocked to see in the distance a yellow shirt and the eyes of .....you guessed it....Mito staring back at me as well. "Mito I hope you know your not alone," was my final thought as I began to write this song.

BIG HEART FOR A LITTLE HEART

When the music on your heart sends you to a distant land...

It sounds like the lyric to a song, but for my family and I it is a reality in just a few days.

THIRSTING

In John chapter 7 Jesus walks up on the most important day of the great feast and yells out

 "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

We have been here in Mozambique now for three months. Recently we spent four weeks in the capitol city about an 18 hour drive south of us. The purpose was to study the Portuguese language so as to communicate the kingdom more effectively. Though very grateful for the opportunity there, while driving back last week on the long road I saw things that would show me how to communicate the kingdom far better than any amount of language study. In just the first three hours that Sunday morning there were hardly any cars on the road, but there was person after person walking. Moms dressed in their only pair of clean clothes, the youngest of the young walking bare feet carrying things or even their own siblings who are often only a few years younger. Wise grandmas carrying grandchildren and small fruit as gifts to give to those they will see at the end of their long walk. Even though they might not have eaten for the last two days. For three hours I watched person after person of all ages and I mean all ages walking and walking. But where? I listened to a song playing in the car with the lyrics "....I'm walking through a garden full of burning bushes, but looking up to heaven for a sign."

This passage from John 7 hit my heart as I was experiencing my own Sunday church service right in the back seat and realized these faceless, priceless ones were all walking to quench their thirst to draw close to God. Step after step just to hear the word of God. Who can know how far some of them walked that day. This begged the question all day....how far would I walk? How thirsty am I.....I mean really?

There in the temple that day was Jesus standing and declaring for anyone who is thirsty and wanting to believe to come and receive rivers of living water that would flow from them! In the west where I am from, many people on that Sunday that I was driving home gathered in the comfort of their beautiful churches. Churches not so different from the one Jesus stood up in. Why do they gather? Often to gain nothing more than knowledge so they can debate and miss the one that can not only quench the thirst causing the debate, but He desires to exchange the drink for a river of life giving answers to flow from them to the world. Are we truly thirsty? Are rivers of LIVING water flowing from our mouths?  How far would we walk? That is what this song is about.