There... almost

Almost time to go, yet I'm already there.  I can taste the fufu with goat soup.  I can feel the fresh cold pineapple on my lips.  I can see the steam coming off of my rice watah' as I spread jam on my sweet bread in the morning.

I can see the orange dusty roads and feel their every bump on their long, winding journey to another village, a school, an orphanage up a mountain, down a hill....  I can smell the dump, with its smoke haze covered landscape where animals and humans alike, scavenge for the day's nutrition.

I can hear the children chanting in a school yard, louder and Louder, "o-bru-nee, O-bru-Nee, O-BRU-NEE," as they hop and skip about holding Mom-Anita's hands.  Smiles wide, joy in their heart they can not contain.  My heart leaps and flutters as I mist up and try to hold the camera still.

I can taste the unique dry chocolate that crumbles rather than melts.  I see Papayas, Mangoes, Tomatoes, peppers, Bananas, Avacados, Garlic, and ground grains of every sort as vendors hope I buy from them.

I can feel road side fire roasted corn warm my insides from teeth to tummy.  I can see masses of people carrying things for sale on their heads.  I can feel the energy rise from the hustle and bustle of the pathways through the market place.  I can feel the cool soothe of a Fanta Pineapple soda, over the teeth, on the back of the tongue, fizzing down my dry throat, at the end of a hot, humid, dusty day in the Tropics of West Africa.

I can hear the roar of the ocean drowning out children's giggles of fear and excitement as it's waves crash on the shore, where a skinny horse carries a rider through the stiff, salty breeze.

I can smell fish in the haze of smoke weighing heavily near the ground in a section of town near the port.

I can feel the embrace of friends and family; long lost hugs from those I've missed and thought and prayed about and longed for, for an eternal year.

I can see the stars more than ever before and watch them sparkle in sync with  the tree frogs conducting a symphony of nature that sings praises to it's creator as they celebrate with passion for love!

I can feel the drum beat as the African rhythm awakens in my soul, on a mountain top shanty with one bulb burning; bodies moving, voices raised, hands clapping.  I can let my heart sing every song it hears, worshiping the Lord in Spirit and Truth with exuberance rather than reserved tradition.

I can celebrate with dance as a village has clean drinking water for the first time.

I can revel in the beauty of Grace's smile, as GOD reveals the mystery of why we do what we do.

I am where GOD ripped my heart out and planted it...


in Ghana.

I am home.

I am there.... almost....

Always

* please follow along as we try to post here often and please consider joining us next year on this life transforming journey to GHANA.

David Lee Waters Sr.

Its time... to reflect and give Glory

Through a series of events and communication with a friend who completely compels us to give thanks to Abba Daddy, I was led to one of my old blog posts, from August of 2008.

http://weministry.blogspot.com/2008/08/still-walking-pages-gnawing-return.html

In this previous entry, I recounted the experience of going to Ghana for the first time.  I didn't feel called to Ghana, I just went to see what my wife had been up to there.  She'd been 4 times already.  I walked the pages of her book and I met the people she'd come to know and I experienced the Spirit of "Akwaaba."

More importantly, I experienced the vision I'd been longing for, for the previous three years.  Now, I didn't have a vision in that I saw something, but I came to an understanding of what my role in the kingdom was to be.

GOD had ripped my heart out and planted it in Ghana.  I loved the food, the people, the culture and I was sorry it was over and looking forward to returning.  As I was handed the microphone the last day, about to say, "I am a missionary from the USA," I was told by the Spirit in no uncertain terms, you are to say, "I AM a missionary to the USA!"

I was to return and share my experiences and GOD would prepare hearts to receive it and join us and that cycle would continue and lives would be transformed!

Today, three years later, we are preparing to return to Ghana for the third time.  This time, leading a team of twelve prepared hearts, to walk the pages of Anita's book, to meet Grace, RJ, Richie & Vic, Mary, the kids, Pastor Johnson, Chief Takyi, Ben, Evelyn and so many more who have become our extended family there.

To eat goat and fufu and the best pineapple on the face of the earth!

God had a plan, and I wanted everything GOD had to give.  It was scary to ask, knowing there'd be some suffering, but the joy, oh the "Joie De Vivre," that comes from a life after the heart of GOD.  I can begin to understand David dancing before a nation, dancing before his Abba Daddy, right out of his clothes.

Simply nothing else like it.

A fulfillment of every promise, with strength found in surrender I give glory to GOD for choosing a least likely me to participate in the grand scheme of things for His kingdom purposes.

GOD has a plan and I believe, I trust, that His plan is better than anything I can ask or imagine.  I want it, I want what GOD has for my life and as I reflect, on where I was, and where I am and where I am headed....

Abba Daddy, You rock my world like no other!  I praise You and I thank You for hearing me, being interested in me and for gifting me with blessings beyond compare!

ALL the Glory and ALL the Praise be to You my Lord, my Savior, my Abba Daddy.

Your son,

David Lee Waters Sr., 

with The Blessing ~ Anita in Logba Tota, Ghana West Africa

'The Lottery'

Growing up, I was taught that playing the lottery would impoverish my family and leave me stuck in a dependent cycle of desperation. Dave Ramsey  preaches the same message…the lottery is a financial wasteland of scratched paper, not-close-enough number series, and dangerous dreams of ‘what if’ and ‘one more’.  Statistically, many of the people that play the lottery live in the lowest income neighborhoods, and there are many factors that contribute to the belief that winning the lottery will magically solve a myriad of problems.  It’s desperation.

Desperation is what often causes people to throw away what they know about the odds and take a chance.  And not all lotteries are equal.  People will ‘risk it all’ emotionally, spiritually or physically. Sometimes it’s for love or a broken relationship.  Sometimes it’s for a career move, political cause, or championship game.  Sometimes it’s for our family.

As Americans, we rarely play the lottery with our drinking water.  We’ll pay more, invest more, and do whatever it takes to provide our families with safe drinking water.   We expect water to be free with our meal, ice to be available, and the container to be sanitary.  We pay $1.00 for a liter of Smart Water at Publix and turn up our noses at the slightly funky smell of well water. Even the most basic of us are water snobs, simply because we have the luxury of demanding clean water.  We’ve never known the real desperation of intense thirst.

Because people in America do not die of thirst.

Men, women, and especially children die of thirst in West Africa every day.  But quite frankly, it’s hard to grasp that over a billion people are in desperate need of drinking water.  So, think of the other risks you take…and substitute water. If you couldn’t demand clean water – if you were dying – what would you do? In scorching heat, with crying children, with a dry and swollen tongue…what would you do?  I’m not talking about an unusually hot day.  This is LIFE.  It’s every day.  Your cousin died of dehydration last week.  Your baby is unresponsive.  Your mother has continual diarrhea and cannot stand.  What would you DO?  Would you drink from the bucket of water possibly contaminated with roaches and unknown parasites?    Would you risk it?  I would.  College degree and all, I would take a chance and risk (inevitable) death for a drink of water.   I would dip my finger in the water and try to give my baby a drink.  I would pray that th e billion-to-one odds of contracting a waterborne illness somehow pass by me and my family as we struggled to survive one more day.


This borrowed from Water of Life Ministries -

Past is Past

When any thing or some one reminds you of your past in a manner which would prevent you from moving out of it and into the new creature you are in Christ, know with out a doubt it is functioning as a messenger of Satan.  It is serving the darkness of this world while you are trying to bring light to those who thirst!

Pray for the death of your enemies.  The same death that you and the apostle Paul experienced on the road to Damascus.  Pray for the the death of their damaged past, that they may be released into their promising future.

Crucified with Christ we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.  The old has passed away.

Behold all things are new.  There is now therefore NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus...

AMEN!

BE the difference for GOOD

We all make a difference.  We all matter.  We're asking YOU to join us in making a difference for the good of those less fortunate.

Waters Edge Ministries

I Need Africa More Than Africa Needs Me

I Need Africa More Than Africa Needs Me

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. "I am needed here," I think. "They have so little, and I have so much." It's true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in those same people. It's a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day.

The images spilling out of my television showed circumstances that could seemingly only equal misery, and I was fooled. I bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness. The truth is, in Africa I find hearts full of victory, indomitable spirits. In places where despair should thrive, instead I find adults dancing and singing, and children playing soccer with a ball crafted of tied up trash. Instead of payback, I find grace. Here, weekend getaways are not options to provide relief from the pains of daily life. Relationships and faith provide joy. Love is sovereign.

My new reality… I know now that my joy should have no regard for my circumstances. I'm ashamed by my lack of faith, but at the very same moment I am excited by my new pursuit. I'm forced to redefine the meaning of having much or having little. I'm uneasy with the prospect of change and of letting go, but just the thought of freedom is liberating. I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head into my heart - I no longer want to need the "next thing" to have joy.

I'm not saying that Africa does not need our efforts. It absolutely does need our partnership. But for me, I've come to understand that I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME. Why? Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need. These are just a few of this continent's many lessons. I came here to serve and yet I've found that I have so much to learn, and Africa, with all its need, has much to teach me.

Join Waters Edge in Spreading the Word
Start a new conversation. Raise awareness of the joy and hope that exist in Africa, and begin to reform the inaccurate perception that Africa is a continent only of despair.

Many in the west think Africa is simply an object of charity. This mindset does not breed true compassion. And there's something about truth… when it becomes clear, it hits you in a way that is hard to ignore. The same is true with people. If we invest in knowing someone, love is the automatic response. We can't all make a trip across the ocean, but we can seek to have a conversation that recasts the damaging images that force pity over partnership.

WHY DO YOU NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS YOU?

* I found this WONDERFUL story on another ministry site http://mochaclub.org 

Water Purifier Described