{"id":371,"date":"2008-01-28T08:47:56","date_gmt":"2008-01-28T08:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2008\/01\/the-suffering-j.html"},"modified":"2008-01-28T08:47:56","modified_gmt":"2008-01-28T08:47:56","slug":"the-suffering-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/01\/the-suffering-j.html","title":{"rendered":"The Suffering Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I saw Jesus suffering in the eyes of an orphan named Nothando living in extreme poverty. She’s also malnourished, uneducated, and has little hope of a future. Then, I saw the face of Christ in a man who is dying of AIDS. He cannot get up and lives in a 4 foot by 4 foot shack with nothing to eat – just waiting to die. It broke my heart.<\/p>\n

Our other team was in the Low Veld today getting their hearts wrecked. I just got off of the phone with them and they told me they visited eight orphans living all alone, no food, water, and little hope. Two of these orphans are crippled and sit in the dirt all day. The widow who was taking care of them just passed away two weeks ago, now it’s just the children.<\/p>\n

The needs of Swaziland are so many. The pastor who preached on Sunday morning entitled his sermon, "We are dying like flies." They are. It would be hard for me to believe if I wasn’t here and seeing it with my own eyes. <\/p>\n

The hope here comes in the form of the faith you see in the people. The pastors, like Pastor Walter and Pastor Sam, who are being Christ to these orphans and widows. They are planting churches in places everyone else refuses to go. They take food to the hungry, everyday and as church they do home visitations to the dying as a congregation on Sunday mornings before service begins. Amazing people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n

Please pray for us. The ministry here is heart breaking, but our presence here is important and needed. God is doing great things in the midst of the poor in this country. Thanks for your love and prayers. Internet is bad here, but I’m updating when I can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, I saw Jesus suffering in the eyes of an orphan named Nothando living in extreme poverty. She’s also malnourished, uneducated, and has little hope of a future. Then, I saw the face of Christ in a man who is dying of AIDS. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}